A New World
by fughp
Summary: When Eragon, once orphaned child of modern world, gets pulled into a strange new land that founds itself at war, will he be able to survive when he becomes the driving force behind the forces of good? Will the new partner of his heart and mind manage to help him to adapt to a world that could not have been more different? Will he find his own origins? /AU, ExA, rating will go up.
1. Chapter 1

**So after I uploaded that ugly piece of tragic shit yesterday, I got inevitably pissed at myself. Why would I upload that wretched, ugly, sad, terrible, morose thing that totally does not suit this fandom and bother the readers with my dark thoughts while all my good, happy, positive ExA stories that could actually lighten up someone's mood lie dormant ?**

**That, combined with a little talk with Elemental Dragon Slayer (the official guru of IC fanfiction ::bowdownemoticon::) about a unproductivness of my original work, made me to decide to reupload one of my original stories and actually CONTINUE to write it. I won't make promises about how often I am going to update or that I will finish it, but I will work on it. New chapter WILL (hopefully) come out later today and I plan to throw all of myself on it once I am done with reuploading and revisiting this story.  
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**Also, you can write me new reviews, since my drunken self once decided to delete the original uploads and I lost all of them :( :D  
**

**Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Christopher Paolini**

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A young, tall man walked down the empty street. He should have been celebrating his nineteenth birthday today. Or at least what he thought had been his birthday all these years. When they had found him wrapped up in the woolen clothes, the only things he had with him were a silver necklace with a small dragon and a plate with a name. No birth certificate, no other documents explaining his identity. So they had always celebrated his birthday on the day he had been found.

_Eragon, what a strange name to carry in this world, _the man thought amusedly when he remembered the name plate which he still owned.

They had raised him in a small orphanage on the outskirts of the city. They had always been nice and kind to him, as no one ever came to adopt him. But when he had celebrated his eighteenth birthday, he left the orphanage and lived alone since in a small flat. He had been already out of the high school so he had enough time to pursue a solid job as a mechanic.

Eragon never felt the need to go to the college, although he had always had the top grades and he had been probably the brightest kid in his class. He had been doing the stuff he liked and he had enough money out of it to feel contended. He had been raised in moderation and he was able to satisfy all his needs.

Eragon turned around the corner and walked into the street where his home was situated. He sighed in the expectation of another meaningless evening. He had no family, no friends and almost no interests to distract his attention. He had read all his books three times over and he could not afford new ones now.

Sometimes he thought what the purpose of his existence was. He did not even think that he was living, because to live meant to live for something and to do something worthy.

Eragon did neither of those. He had nothing or no one to live for and he had never done something worthy. He was simply vegetating through his life without a purpose.

He always wondered why had his parents left him, but he never came to a reasonable motive and he did not expect to ever find it. He often clutched that small dragon on his necklace and pondered over its meaning. Why was it the only thing his parents left to him? Was there any purpose or meaning behind it?

Eragon left these thoughts which had once again decided to plague his mind. He only wanted a peaceful and uneventful evening, the same as ever. He had been reconciled with the way his life was heading for some time and he did not want to ponder over impossible possibilities once again.

When Eragon touched the lock of his flat on the fifth floor of an old house, a small electricity shock jolted through his arm and then through his whole body.

_Strange, this is the fourth time this day something like that happened to me, _he remembered clearly the events of the day. It seemed that the static charges had chosen him for their target this day.

Eragon walked into his flat and threw his jacket on the hanger. He proceeded straight on the couch, where he planned to spend the rest of his day watching stupid TV shows. After few minutes his mind already became numb thanks to the silliness of the broadcast when the image on the screen suddenly became all white and a strange buzzing sound started to emanate from the speakers.

Eragon immediately became aware of this, but he had no idea of what was happening. The white screen was so bright that he was not able to see anything else, as if the white light had encased his whole world. He was so shocked that he could not even move.

Then the buzzing sound suddenly stopped and a deep, rumbling voice started to speak. Or at least Eragon thought it was a voice, because he did not understand a single world of the language it was speaking. Then it said one sentence he understood.

"IT IS TIME," Eragon somehow felt the immense power behind those words. The white light got even brighter and Eragon was not sure if he would ever be able to see again. He could not even close his eyes.

The deep voice fell silent and then a loud, deep boom thundered in the air around him. Then another one. And then the third one and with that the white light got the brightest it had ever been and Eragon suddenly felt like he has been torn apart and sewed into one again in one moment. Like he has been pulled away by some unknown force and simultaneously pressured back into one tiny spot in the universe.

This lasted for an unknown amount of time. To Eragon it seemed like a second and an eternity all at once. It felt like his head was locked in a giant press.

When the blinding light finally faded out, he found himself standing shakily on his legs. But he was not standing in his flat. He had no idea where he was.

Eragon was standing in a large, richly decorated hall, facing a giant wooden door. His head was still pounding with pain as he furiously turned around and what he saw shocked him even more.

At least twenty tall figures were directly watching him with shock still written on some of the faces. To Eragon their faces seemed somehow weird, but because of the pain he was not able to form a coherent thought.

At the very end of the hall, at the raised platform stood a majestic pair, who seemed to be the highest positioned persons in the room. To their right, in front of a strange green wall, stood alone a tall, black haired woman and Eragon, despite the distance; saw also her deep, green, burning eyes.

But the thing that primarily captured Eragon's confused attention was the beautiful blue stone which lay on a pedestal in front of him. It was quite big and shiny and white veins ran over its surface. He was absolutely mesmerized by the beauty of stone and he felt being pulled to it.

Eragon absolutely ignored everything else that was happening around him. He ignored the fact that he was present in place he had never seen with unknown persons watching him. He just felt the need to touch the stone.

Somehow Eragon managed to move and he quickly covered those few feet which distanced him from the pedestal. He heard gasps and shouts in a strange language around him, but he ignored them, as his only focus was the stone.

He touched the stone's smooth surface and then all of his energy left him. His knees buckled under his weight and he fell to the ground. The last thing he saw was the blue stone following him down to the ground and the black haired woman running over to him and shouting strange words. Then he lost his consciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

******Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Christopher Paolini.**

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**ERAGON**

When Eragon woke up, his head was still pounding with pain.

_What a strange dream that was, _he thought, but in the moment he opened his eyes he knew that it was not a dream, because he was staring at a wooden ceiling and he definitely did not have wooden ceiling in his flat.

Eragon tried to move, but he found that he had been tied to the soft bed he had been laying on. He was only able to move his head. In confusion he turned to his right and saw the black haired woman he remembered from before watching him intently. Her face was beautiful, but something about her was very strange. His mind however was too confused to try to place his wonder. On the table in between them laid the blue stone which again immediately captured his attention.

He was however interrupted in his marveling over the stone by a strange, exotic voice coming from the woman. Her accent was very different, but he understood her easily.

"Who are you?" she inquired in an emotionless tone.

Eragon blinked, "Excuse me?"

"Who are you?" she repeated.

"I guess you would have known the identity of someone you kidnap," Eragon snapped. He had no idea what was going on.

"Kidnap?" she replied sharply, "You appear out of nowhere in the most secret place of all Alagaësia and you accuse us of kidnapping?"

"What the hell is Alagaësia? Is this some kind of joke?" Eragon was absolutely bewildered. He got probably mugged by some gang of junkies. By the blank expression that appeared on the woman's face he guessed that he had been right.

The woman answered after a full minute of silence.

"Alagaësia is the name of this land. How is the possible for you to not know it?" she asked curiously.

"There is no land called Alagaësia in this world, I know enough of geography to know it. Are you some drugged freak or what?" he almost yelled; panic slowly taking over his senses.

"I do not understand some of the words you are using," she said slowly, "What is geography?"

_She must be totally dull, _he looked over her and for the first time he noticed the strange leather outfit she was wearing, _Great, drugged hooker. And I just wanted a peaceful evening._

Eragon decided that the best way to get out of this mess was to act normal. But when he tried to explain what geography is, he found that he could not. As if somebody had erased the knowledge out of his mind. He tried to find the explanation in between his thoughts, but he just could not. He assumed that they had drugged him too.

"I think it is a story for another time," Eragon tried to omit her question while he was trying to choose his next words, "So, what did you mean by Alagaësia?" he tried.

"I meant what I said," she replied swiftly, "This, to us known, part of land is called Alagaësia. It stretches from the sea to the west to the end of the Hadarac Desert to the east and down to the southern parts of Beor Mountain."

Eragon just stared at her in shock, "I have never heard of those places. You are a freak," he spat.

"I'm being honest with you. Why would I lie to you? I'm just as curious as you," she speak and he could hear honesty in her voice. But he was not going to accept it.

"How can I believe you?"

Her face became blank again and Eragon was forced to wait. After another minute he felt as if something was brushing his mind. He had no idea why he felt like that. He started to toss around on bed, but to no avail. Suddenly he heard the women speaking in the strange language. But he also felt something in his mind, but could not describe what it was.

The language seemed similar to the one Eragon heard when the white light enveloped him. He had no idea what any of the words meant, but when she finished, he was somehow assured about the truth in her previous words.

"What did you do?" he asked in shock?

"I spoke to you and to your mind in Ancient Language. It's impossible to lie in it," she answered as if explaining something to a kid.

Eragon could not be shocked more.

_Speaking in mind? Ancient language? What is this? _he pondered over these new information, but his mind was still too confused to function properly.

"Speaking in mind? How is that even possible?" Eragon asked incredulously.

"You witnessed it moment ago, didn't you?" her passive face broke into a small smile. He nodded, simply accepting everything she was telling him.

"Why did you do that?"

"You would not understand the words if I had not done that. By speaking in your mind I made sure you would understand."

She ran a hand through her ebony hair and the movement revealed her ears. Eragon gasped.

"What… What's wrong with your ears?" the tips of her ears were pointed. He now also noticed the other strange traits of her face such as very high cheek bones and slightly slanted eyes.

She slowly ran her right hand over her ear, while looking at him. He saw a confusion and then understanding in her eyes.

"I'm an elf," she said simply, but it was enough to deliver another shock to Eragon.

"An elf?" he cried out, "An elf like in the…," but he could not finish his thought as his mind against went blank when wanted to talk about something.

_What is happening to me? Where the hell am I even? _Eragon's thought were still full of confusion and the fear. The constant pain in his did not help to it.

"Like in the…?" she wanted him to finish his question.

"Never mind," Eragon breathed out. If he could, he would just put his hands over his eyes and ignore his surroundings. As if the whole world around him went totally mad.

"So, why am I tied?" he tried to change the course of the talk.

"Precaution," was her stiff reply.

"Why?"

"As I said, we have no idea how did you manage to trespass all of our wards so easily."

"Wards?" he asked, now expecting another crazy fact.

"Magical wards. They are set all over our settlements," Eragon was too numb to even question the word magic.

"Well I have no idea, how I did that. I was simply sitting in my home when a strange white light enveloped me and I heard a lot of confusing sounds around me. Then something said some strange words and then I appeared in your hall," Eragon hoped that his explanation would be enough to make her let him go.

"That might be true," Eragon smiled, "But we cannot be sure of it yet. However if you speak the truth, I think you will be released soon."

Eragon wanted to tell something, but she stopped him by stretching her hand out to him.

"I understand your anger, but to our knowledge nothing like this has ever happened and we need to be cautious. You could be a spy of the enemy," her voice lowered with her last words.

"Enemy?"

"Yes, but that is not the talk we should hold now."

"If you thought that I am the spy, why did you not kill me in the very moment I appeared?" Eragon asked.

"There were certain complications after your arrival which has prevented us from doing so," she glanced over the blue stone between them.

Eragon looked at the stone too. Why was it there? Did insult them somehow by touching it? Were they going to hurt him before they would kill him? Tens of questions ran through his mind. The woman meanwhile stood.

"I have to leave you now. Somehow will come to feed you and I will later come back with my superiors. I think we still have some time before our guesses are confirmed," she looked at the stone again and turned to leave, but Eragon had one last question.

"Will you at least tell me your name?

She turned around and gave him a long, scanning look. Eragon felt as if those emerald eyes pierced through his soul and heart.

"I am Arya. You?" she said after a moment.

"Eragon," shock swiftly flew over her face as she gasped for the air, but it was gone in the moment. Without another word she turned around and left him to his bewildered thoughts.

Arya came again several hours later, but Eragon was not sure how many it had exactly been. He slept a little and then an elven maiden came to feed him with a soup. She had been silent entire time and Eragon did not question her about anything, because he had enough to think about. His memories were still clouded, but he was now certain of one thing.

Everything what was happening to him was real.

Arya was accompanied by two men. Both were elves too. The first one looked young like her with tall and proud figure and a long mane of silver hair. The second elf looked somehow old although his face was still somehow youngish. His posture was hunched, as if he had been carrying a heavy burden. His hair was white like a snow.

Arya remained standing by the door to the room, but she was looking at Eragon intensively. The two men held a quick conversation in their language and then the older elf seated himself in a richly decorated chair beside Eragon's bed while the younger remained standing in his place. All faces were turned to Eragon. Then the white haired elf began to speak.

"Good evening Eragon, my name is Oromis," he said in kind tone which somehow soothed Eragon's mind.

"I would like to say nice to meet you, but I am not entirely sure about that," answered Eragon aloofly.

Oromis sighed, "I understand, of course. Your predicament is definitely not the most fortunate in the world. However you have to understand our caution. The dark days are looming over this land and we cannot simply overlook events like this."

"I'm sure that I would be able to understand my situation better if I had at least the slightest idea of what is going on," said Eragon and he let his confusion be shown on his face.

Oromis frowned and turned to the younger one who nodded after a moment. Oromis turned back to Eragon.

"Eragon, allow me to introduce you Evandar Könungr, the king of this realm. You're now put under his authority and your fate depends practically entirely on his decision," Eragon looked over the said man in fear, not entirely sure what to expect from him.

The elf was examining Eragon and soon comforting warmth made its way into his glistening silver eyes.

"Be at peace young one. You carry a powerful name and if everything you said to my daughter…," Eragon rudely interrupted him.

"Daughter? Are you sure you did not say sister?" he looked swiftly at Arya and then back at the king.

Evandar smiled, ignoring the breach of Eragon's politeness.

"Elves are immortal and we do not age after reaching a certain level of maturity," Eragon's mind was not able to even comprehend this last piece of information and he only managed to nod. Evandar continued.

"As I said, if everything you said is true and if our guesses concerning the events of your "arrival" will be proven right, you'll soon be released from your prison and you'll be treated with an honor," the king paused, "However, there is only one way how to prove that your claims have been truthful," his eyes darkened as he turned to Arya.

"Daughter, would you be willing to handle this. I think that your young mind would be the best one to understand him," this was enough to send the waves of fear and uncertainty towards Eragon again.

"What do you mean?"

Oromis evidently saw the fear in Eragon's eyes.

"Stay calm; there is nothing to fear of. But we need to examine your memories to be sure that you are not the servant of the enemy," Oromis motioned with his hand to Arya, "You have already witnessed a when Arya touched your mind before. Am I right?"

Eragon nodded.

"This is quite a similar procedure, but it will allow us to see your memories. I assume that you might trust Arya more than us two, because you know her for a longer time. Know that if you accept this procedure willingly, it will ease our hearts with the knowledge that we are not breaching any ethical principles," said Oromis in a hopeful tone.

Eragon looked straight into Arya's emerald eyes, "I-I trust you," he said quietly.

It took her a second to nod and she proceeded to sit sideways on his bed. She placed her soft fingers on both sides of his head.

"Are you ready," she asked and Eragon nodded.

He again felt his mind being touched, but it was different this time. Arya did not stop outside and plunged herself deeply into his mind. Eragon winced as a slight amount of pain emanated from his brain, but it stopped soon. Instead Eragon's memories started to appear in his mind in a fast process. A lot of them were clouded or entirely black, but there were few personal which he did not want to show and Arya obviously did not care about those, because she threw them away even faster than the others. She proceeded from the newest memories to the oldest ones and soon everything ended with a flash of bright white light. Eragon felt her leaving his mind and he opened his eyes.

A hint of tiredness crawled into Arya's pale face, but she stood in the moment and turned to the two men who were patiently waiting. Eragon did not know how large amount of time had passed.

"His memories are clouded, but there were things I have seen in them which cannot originate from Galbatorix' mind. I saw strange things, but I think that our estimations were correct. He is not from this world," Arya announced with a fatality in her voice.

And Eragon knew she was right. For nothing like this would have been possible in the world where he had lived his whole life. That fact came crushing down him, when he realized that he probably could never come back.

_But why should I want to come back? I had nothing in my own world, perhaps I can start again here. Well, like I have a chance to choose, _Eragon quickly went over his possibilities while Evandar muttered few words in the Ancient Language and the shackles around Eragon's arms and legs loosened.

Eragon whimpered in pain as the blood made its way back to his limbs. He sat up and stretched his back and arms. King Evandar meanwhile started talking.

"I think it is safe to let you move freely around your setting. I see that you understand the terms of your ordeal, so please do not leave this settlement until I allow otherwise. There are other matters which need to be solved before I allow you a freer regime," his gaze fell on the blue stone and then back on Eragon, "Please, do not try to escape, you would not be allowed to."

Eragon nodded, "I understand. But I have a question."

"Go on."

"Why is this stone here?"

"That we will see soon," answered Oromis mysteriously, but his eyes were beaming with expectation. He slowly stood up.

"I think we gave Eragon enough to think about. Do you agree Evandar?" Eragon noticed that Oromis did addressed Evandar as his king.

"I agree," replied Evandar and looked at Eragon, "Someone will bring you a dinner later. There is also a possibility of quite an eventful evening," he turned to leave, but Eragon stopped him.

"Cannot you tell me something more? I really hate being totally clueless about what is going on."

The king turned to Arya, "Arya, could you please bring him a book from the library. You can choose whatever you deem fit; I however advise to not bring anything concerning the matters of these days. We will have to introduce Eragon into them fully and completely."

"Of course, father," was her swift reply. She then left the room followed by her father. Oromis however spoke to Eragon once again.

"Enjoy your evening, Eragon. I know that there have been many surprises for you in the last few hours, but you should know that there will probably be much more very soon. I have a feeling that your destiny is deeply connected to the fate of this land," with that Oromis left Eragon to his thoughts. Eragon did not believe that he could be somehow important.

* * *

**ARYA**

Arya returned to Eragon after his dinner. As soon as she walked into his room, he stood up and bowed.

"Why are you doing that?" she inquired.

"I assume that you're a princess. I should better…," but Arya stopped him with a motion of her right hand.

"Ignore that fact for now. You have enough to ponder about and the elven customs are not easy to understand for a foreigner."

Arya now took the full picture of him for the first time. He was tall, taller than her, with brown hair and chocolate eyes. His build was not heavy, but still undoubtedly human.

She moved to him and handed him the book she brought from the library.

"Here, this book speaks about the oldest history of Alagaësia. Read it attentively, because some of the information will soon become handy."

"Thank you," said Eragon in his deep, warm voice.

"I have other matters to attend, so I'll leave you to your reading. But I will visit tomorrow morning again at the latest," Arya turned and left Eragon sitting on his simple bed.

_He is an interesting person, _rumbled a very deep voice in her mind.

_That he is, _Arya answered, _I wonder what wyrda will bring upon us._

* * *

**ERAGON**

Eragon woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of scratching wood. He noticed that the book he had been reading lay on his chest and when he lifted it, he noticed that he did not even get past the first page. He looked around the room while rubbing his eyes and his gaze fell on the blue stone which no longer placed on the table beside his bed.

It fell on the floor and was now wildly tossing around. Eragon did not know what to do, so he just stared at it. After a minute the first loud crack come and then another. Eragon stood up and walked towards the stone. As he neared it, the loudest cracking sound emanated from it and then the stone exploded into millions of pieces.

Eragon quickly covered his eyes, but he felt nothing of expected puncturing pain. He checked his body swiftly and it was indeed unharmed. When he glanced back at the stop where the stone had been moments ago, he fell down in shock.

At the place of the exploded stone stood a small blue creature. To Eragon it looked like a lizard, but it had wings, which were ridiculously long comparing to the rest of the body.

_So it was an, but is this… is this a dragon? _Eragon could not believe his own thoughts, but he had no idea what else the creature might have been and the description of the dragon as he knew it from the myths actually fitted it pretty accurately.

The creature raised its little head and Eragon noticed the proudness in the movement. It looked around and then connected its gaze with Eragon's. And then he saw it. The intelligence which was written in those deep, sapphire eyes was undeniable.

Eragon felt a sudden need to touch the creature and he quickly half walked, half crawled towards it. He reached out with his right hand towards the creature's snout. As soon as he touched it, a searing pain erupted in his whole body. He felt as if someone poured an essence of fire into his veins and threw him into icy water in the same moment. The pain was however somewhat refreshing and it started fading away. Eragon heard someone opening the door and then he knew no more.


	3. Blue and Gold

******Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Christopher Paolini.**

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**ERAGON**

Eragon stirred out of his slumber. He was lying back on the bed and something was lying on his chest. He immediately heard voices talking hurriedly near him. They were speaking in Ancient Language, but suddenly someone spoke in the common speech.

"So Vrael's prophecy is starting to reveal itself and with it the fate of Alagaësia. I wonder where it will bring us," Eragon could not recognize the voice of the speaker.

He opened his eyes and stared at the wooden ceiling for a second before he quickly sat upright and the weight fell from his chest with a squeak. Eragon saw a glimpse of blue falling at the ground beside the bed. Second later it jumped back at the bed and landed in Eragon's lap. Then he saw those intelligent, blue eyes and the memories of the previous night reappeared in this mind.

Eragon wanted to push the small dragon of his lap, but something in his subconscious mind made him unable to do so. In the back of his brain Eragon felt a light stirring, quite similar to the time when Arya had been checking his thoughts, but this felt much more intimate.

Another stirring came from his right palm. When he raised his hand, he saw an uneven silver stain which had never been there before. Eragon tried to rub it off, but to no avail. It stayed there forever as mark of his contact with the small dragon on his lap.

"Do you know what the creature standing in your lap is?" a voice came from his right and Eragon recognized the old elf, Oromis. By his side was standing now silent Arya.

"Eh-I have an opinion," mumbled Eragon.

"Go on."

"A dragon?" said Eragon uncertainly.

Both Oromis and Arya nodded, large smiles spreading over their faces. Oromis continued.

"Now I have to ask. How far have you gotten in your reading?"

"I fell asleep at the first page," replied Eragon with a hint of shame in his tone, but Oromis smiled.

"No need to feel a shame, you went through few taxing days. However we need to introduce you into the matters which you will be now inevitably part of," a shadow had passed over his face before he continued.

"Alagaësia is in war. Not yet a full, all-encompassing war, but it will change into that state now sooner than later. You have been predestined to play a big role in those coming events and everything is starting to set into motion," Oromis walked over and sat on the chair he had been sitting on the previous day.

"You and this dragon," Oromis motioned with his hand at the dragon that was also patiently listening, "are now a bonded pair, partners of mind and heart, member of the ancient Order of the Dragon Riders," he finished and watched Eragon's reaction.

Eragon was astonished. He has been in this new world for only a few hours and someone has already placed some kind of responsibility on his shoulders. That was definitely different from his previous life. He did not know what to think about the partnership with the dragon, but the stirring in the back of his mind made him pretty uncomfortable about it.

The thing he was the most uncomfortable with was of course the fact that he should play a big role in a war. He had picked up few fights in the school, but that was all. His memories did not allow him to remember his knowledge of the wars of his original world, but he knew that they that was a weak label for them. He also had no idea of what type of war it should be.

Eragon then looked at Arya and saw a scabbard hanging on her hip. He then, for the first time, noticed the clothes the two elves were wearing. Oromis was clothed in a white long robe which was giving him even a wiser look. Arya wore a shorter green tunic and black leather pants which hugged her legs tightly. It seemed that this world was nowhere near as advanced as the one he had come from.

When Eragon thought about it and connected this fact with his memory lapses, he came to the conclusion that his memory was affected by the fact that he went back in a several eras of the development of the mankind and, well also, elvenkind.

Oromis meanwhile continued his lecture, "If you had progressed in the book further, you would have learned about the earliest history of the Riders. When the elven race sailed into Alagaësia, they found here only the dwarves and the dragons. While the dwarves did not care about them, it was not the same with the dragons, who ruled the majority of the land without an opposition. Soon a bloody and terrible war between the two races was waged. Elves were not as developed as they are today and the dragons were always the fiercest of the races. Thousands were lost on both sides and war threatened the overall existence of both races. But a young elven man, whose name was Eragon," at this Oromis stopped and watched the Eragon who was sitting on the bed only a few feet from him. Eragon gasped, but hurriedly nodded, as he wanted to hear the rest of the story.

"As I said, the young elf Eragon found a white dragon egg which soon hatched. He named the young dragon Bid'daum and raised him in secrecy. To shorten the story for now, Eragon and Bid'daum manufactured the peace, showing that both races could live together in harmony. The official pact was formed by the queen of the elves Tarmunora and the leader of the dragons whose name cannot be represented in any language. The pact was called Blood-Oath or _Blödhren_ in Ancient Language. It allowed dragons, whose eggs were given to the Riders Order, to be bonded with the riders of the elven race. Eragon took the role of the Lead Rider and many would follow after him. Humans were later added into the pact by Rider Anurin, few centuries after they arrived to Alagaësia," Oromis paused and his face darkened as he was about to tell the next part of the story.

"The centuries passed and Riders cared about the land. They were scholars, diplomats, healers and when needed, also warriors. They kept Alagaësia and its races in peace. Peace which was not meant to last. Young rider whose name was Galbatorix embarked on a foolish task. With his dragon and another two Riders he ventured far north, into the territories of the Urgals. Urgals are a beastlike race whose blood is filled the lust for war and their hearts contain the need to wage wars to gain an honor. Galbatorix's dragon and his friends were slain. Galbatorix maddened by the unimaginable grief of losing the partner of his mind and heart wandered through the wilderness for months. He searched death, but even Urgals feared to approach him in his state. His mind soon focused at the possibility of being given another dragon. He made his way back to the Rider's settlement which was at the time located on the island of Vroengard," Oromis sighed.

"He was denied… on my advice. I had been one of the Elders in that time and I saw the hints of madness in the young Galbatorix's mind. The denial drove him further into insanity and hatred. His mind was twisted and he came to believe that it was the Riders' fault that his dragon, Jarnunvösk, had died."

"Galbatorix left Vroengard and pursued himself in dark arts of magic under the tutelage of a Shade. Shades are devilish and malevolent creatures made of evil spirits. After years he eventually found and befriended a young Rider Morzan who fell into his lies and deceptions. The two together murdered a new Rider and stole the black hatchling Shruikan. Galbatorix later bonded himself to him through the use of horrible black magic," tears started to flow from Oromis' eyes.

"Another twelve Riders soon sided with Galbatorix and Morzan and they became known as the Forsworn, or _Wyrdfell_ in Ancient Language. In short, because the events were too terrible for me to describe in detail, they ravaged a terror at the Order. They killed everyone, even young boys and girls and their hatchlings. They killed every member of the Order except for two and practically exterminated the race of dragons. Galbatorix slew the Leader of the Order Vrael at the top of mountain Utgard, after he had kicked him between his legs. Then he flew straight into the capital of the land Iliera, where he slew King Angrenost and proclaimed himself the new king of Alagaësia. This happened almost a hundred years ago. Elves hid in the forests of Du Weldenvarden where we have been living since. The dwarves withdrew to the Beor Mountains, but their settlements were still terrorized by the remaining Forsworn. The humans were condemned to live in the tyranny of Galbatorix."

Even Arya's face was now wrapped in grief.

"Only two Riders survived the Fall. Me and a human Rider. But I and my dragon are disabled and the human lost his dragon. It is remarkable how he managed to stay strong and somehow overcome his grief, because he is the Enemy of Galbatorix. His name is Brom and it was he who created the resistance group, the Varden. He and his followers hunted down the remaining members of Forsworn and it was he who personally slew Morzan. Brom also created the plan to steal the last three dragon eggs which were in the possession of Galbatorix. The plan was partially successful as only two eggs were stolen. They were being swapped for years between Varden and elves and now they finally hatched in a relatively quick succession," Oromis pointed at Arya.

"The green egg hatched about half a year ago to Arya and it gave us hope. Now when the blue egg hatched to you, Eragon, we also have a chance," Oromis' eyes glistened, as if he saw some distant vision of a bright future.

It certainly surprised Eragon that Arya was also a Rider. How can a woman play a role in war? But then he again looked at the sword at her hip and decided to not underestimate her, because he had no idea how the things were working in his world. But there was one thing he could not understand.

"How could Galbatorix become so strong?" he asked. At his question Arya's face also shined with interest.

Oromis shook his head, "I have only suspicions. But even if they are proven real, neither of you is ready for this knowledge. In fact, Eragon, you are not probably ready for anything and that has to be addressed soon."

"How?"

"You will start to train. But certain agreements have been made which are now complicating the whole thing. We will have to discuss it with the King, Queen and the rest of the elven Lords," announced Oromis.

"Am I still forbidden from venturing outside?" asked Eragon.

"No," Arya cut into conversation, "When father heard of hatching he canceled the ban. But my advice for you is to not venture far without a companion. Many dangers lurk in the forest, especially for a young dragon and a human Rider. And there are many elves that stopped trusting humans after the Fall, because both Galbatorix and Morzan were of your race."

Eragon nodded and looked at the small dragon in his lap. Its scales were of deep, ocean blue and it had ivory colored spikes along the spine with small exception in the shoulder area.

"What did you mean by taking about partnership of mind and heart?" Eragon asked suddenly. This was the question he had been the most curious about.

Oromis' face became blissful when he answered.

"It is what I said. The dragon will be the partner of your soul. You two will share feelings, thoughts and memories. He or she will be your best friend, your partner in your travels, in your fights. You will talk with your partner when he needs it and he when you needs it. You will protect the other with your own life, because you won't be able to live without each other. It is a blessed bond, one you will soon enjoy and you will do everything possible to retain forever, because you will now too live forever," finished Oromis.

Eragon was staring at him in shock, "You mean that I am immortal?" he asked in disbelief.

Oromis nodded, "Dragons are immortal by nature and the bond applies on their partner. After Blood-Oath the entire elven race inherited the immortality of the dragons and also a part of their magical potential. This made elves the most magical of all races, after the dragons of course."

Eragon started breathing hard. The fact of him being immortal simply started changing his opinions of everything. He suddenly remembered the philosophical books he had read so long ago which dealt with the concept of immortality, but everything about it now seemed ridiculous and he was not able to imagine how his life would unfold in the future.

"So I won't age, as the elves?" Eragon asked and Oromis nodded.

"Yes. I understand it is hard for you, with everything we threw at you in the last couple of hours, to accept the fact of you being immortal. You were expecting your whole life that you will die someday. That is not certain now, even if you can still die by wound or by poison. The elves are born and raised with the knowledge of being immortal, so as the immortality is foreign concept four you, the death is foreign to them."

Eragon hurriedly nodded. He would have to deal with it somehow.

"What should I do now?" Eragon asked suddenly.

"You should feed your dragon," answered Oromis, "Elves do not eat meat, but Arya's dragon, Fírnen brought the leftovers from his kill with him. We can go outside, but you should change, because your clothes are not exactly the part of this world."

Eragon looked down and noticed that he still wore a black shirt, blue jeans and trainers.

"I brought some clothes from our best weavers. They are made of the finest materials and you should find them comfortable enough. They are in the drawer here," said Arya and pointed at a low, wooden drawer.

"We will wait for you outside," said Oromis and turned to leave with Arya following.

"Can I keep my old clothes?" asked Eragon before they left. Oromis turned and nodded.

"Of course. Just do not wear them. You will attract attention even without them."

* * *

**ARYA**

Arya waited patiently with Fírnen and Oromis by her side outside the hut Eragon had been residing since they had brought him there two days ago.

_Which gender do think the hatchling is going to be? I hope it's going to be female. It has to be female, _Fírnen's deep voice resounded in her mind. She sent him a mental equivalent of laugh.

_I hope it is going to be female too. Not only because it would give you a potential mate, but I could also use some female companion in this now completely male company, _Arya answered him while glancing at Oromis. She noticed that Glaedr, Oromis' great, golden dragon has not been present.

"Oromis-ebrithil, I thought Glaedr-ebrithil also wanted to see the hatchling," Arya inquired.

Oromis glanced at her and smiled. Arya admired the ancient elf for his ability to deal with the curse, which had been inflicted upon him by the Forsworn Kialandí, with an ever present smile and kind words or advice for anyone who needed them.

"He will be there soon. He has been enjoying the midday sun at the Crags of Tel'naeir."

In that moment the door of the hut creaked and Arya saw walking Eragon walking out of the house with the sapphire hatchling hot on his heels. Eragon wore white, silk tunic with low-cut collar and brown trousers. She could see a necklace she had not seen before. On his feet he had those strange shoes in which he arrived. They were ankle high and multicolored. She even saw a hint of an orange sole. That was very strange. She had forgotten about footwear and now it was too late. She finished her inspection and looked up at Eragon's face.

Eragon was meanwhile staring at Fírnen with something between fear and astonishment in his eyes. Arya could understand him. Fírnen, while not being anywhere near being as massive as ancient Glaedr, was already a big and fearsome dragon. Especially for anyone who had heard of the dragons for the first time only a few hours ago. The hatchling wore same expression as its Rider.

Fírnen slowly approached the pair, lowly grumbling in anticipation. He looked straight into Eragon's brown eyes and Arya saw Eragon slightly flinching, but the movement went almost unnoticed even by her sharp vision. He certainly had nerves of steel. Fírnen watched him for an entire minute and then he growled in appreciation and Arya saw Eragon's surprise when Fírnen spoke in his mind.

* * *

**ERAGON**

_Well met, young one,_ Eragon almost jumped from his shoes when he heard the very deep voice speaking in his mind. He assumed it had been Fírnen who had spoken. He bowed his head slightly towards the great, green dragon.

"It is my honor to meet you, O Great One," Eragon said towards the dragon and he hoped that the great beast would not eat him for a desert. He however heard only a low growl which in his mind translated into an amused snort.

_This two leg certainly knows how to appreciate the greatness, _Fírnen then lowered his head and looked at the hatchling which was standing beside Eragon. Eragon could hear an excitement in the back of his mind, testament to the bond he now shared with the small dragon. Eragon was ready to intervene if something went amiss between the two, although he knew he would not stand a chance.

The hatchling squealed in joy and leaped at Fírnen's snout. Fírnen tried to shook it off while constantly laughing in the way of dragons. In the end he had to release a puff of smoke. The hatchling fell on the ground and coughed, because the smoke made its way into its nostrils. Eragon laughed and Arya did the same, which resulted into probably the most beautiful sound Eragon had ever heard. Even Oromis' eyes twinkled with amusement.

_It's a female, _Eragon heard Fírnen speaking again with a joyous tone. Fírnen then retreated from Eragon's mind and from the blank look which appeared on Arya's face, Eragon recognized that he spoke to Arya in private.

Eragon was surprised at his dragon being a female. He did not think about the gender before and it seemed strange to him that he should his life with a woman personality.

A loud thud then resounded across the forest they were surround by and then another and then another. The thuds became louder and louder and Eragon suddenly saw a giant golden object descending towards him. It seemed to him that the Sun itself decided to descend and burn them with its might. When the golden behemoth landed, Eragon saw that it was actually a giant dragon. Fírnen looked like a puppy beside a full grown dog and Eragon's hatchling was a mere ant in the grass. Even the huge golden which was now attentively watching Eragon was larger than the female hatchling. If Eragon had been frightened while meeting Fírnen, now he struggled to no faint. His heart clenched when he saw that dragon's left foreleg was severed in half and it now ended in a white stump. Then another deep voice grumbled in his mind, although this one was not as deep as Fírnen's.

_You have a big heart, courageous one. Your future is filled with great deeds. Know that I, Glaedr, believe in you._

Eragon was shocked at the praise he was receiving when he had done absolutely nothing to deserve it.

"Thank you, Wise One. But I do not deserve your praise," replied Eragon, but Glaedr growled at him.

_Do not tell the dragon that he is at fault. Because we are the wisest beings and I am now the oldest of my race. Do not question me again, hatchling._

Eragon winced as he feared of being attacked, but soon he realized that Glaedr was not going to hurt him and, nodded and lowered his head in embarrassment at insulting probably the mightiest being in the whole land. Glaedr snorted and muttered something for all of them to hear.

_He has a long road in front of him._

Glaedr then turned his massive body towards the small dragoness who was now beaming in excitement of meeting another member of her race, this one even bigger than the first one. Glaedr hummed and spoke after another moment.

_This is a fine hatchling. I can already see that she was meant to be an exceptional. Her speed and grace will rival those of the greatest dragons of the past._

The hatchling squeaked again, understanding the meaning behind the great dragon's words. Eragon saw in his connection with the hatchling a flow of images which presented the meaning of Glaedr's words. Eragon noticed that it must be some of the earliest forms of communication.

Eragon came to the hatchling and crouched down beside her to stroke her snout. The dragoness contently purred, but left his stroking hand it the moment she heard a thump behind her. Eragon looked over and saw two small, dead rabbits lying under Fírnen. He probably forgotten them until now and was currently looking around as nothing had happened. Eragon laughed which made Oromis to look at Eragon's crouched body. Then he saw the necklace hanging around Eragon's neck.

"Eragon, where did you get that necklace?" inquired Oromis and Eragon could hear a hint of surprise in the old elf's voice.

Eragon's face went solemn, "I have it ever since I remember it. The caretakers in the orphanage told it was the only thing which was found with me other than a sign with a name."

"Ah, very well," Oromis became little confused, something which Eragon did not expect. Oromis quickly changed the theme of the talk.

"Now that you were given a permission to move freely around, I think it is time for us to show you your proper accommodation. But before that. Arya, can you please?"

Arya smiled and spoke in a formal voice towards Eragon.

"Allow me to officially welcome you to Ellesméra, the capital city of the elven race. Let this city be your new home, Eragon Shur'tugal."

And Eragon looked behind Arya and for the first he saw the hints of the rest of the city. Tall, wide trees, beautiful flowers blossoming on every step. He heard birds singing in the trees and he also sew a few elves that were walking between those wooden giants.

And he knew that he was given a new chance to live.


	4. Her Name

******Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Christopher Paolini.**

* * *

**ERAGON**

A giant tree was looming in front of Eragon over the smaller trees around it. The massive roots were spread over the forest floor around him. Although the majority of the trees around were pines, this one was a strong oak, as were the other elven dwellings Eragon saw on his way here. If he had felt small in front of Glaedr, now he felt insignificant. The tree was radiating with ancientness which even the giant golden dragon did not possess.

"This is one of the trees which has been a home for the Riders since the creation of the Order," said Oromis who was standing to Eragon's left, "Typically one tree would remain as an abode for one Rider for his whole life, because there are enough of these to accommodate the small amount of Riders who came here, because Ellesméra was not the center of the land until the elven withdrawal," Oromis paused and tapped on Eragon's shoulder to make him look at him.

"However, this one is special. For millennia the Lead Rider, the Lord of Vroengard, has dwelled in this tree," Oromis waited for Eragon to comprehend the meaning of his words. Eragon did not understand why. He voiced his opinion to Oromis.

"Let us look at it in a detail. Galbatorix is of course out of question. I have been crippled in the war and some goes for Glaedr. Brom lost his dragon. And Arya does not want a leading position. Even before she became Rider she had been visibly proclaiming her distaste for royalty. She had been refusing the possibility of her becoming a ruler after her parents tenure ends for years, even if the Knotted Throne of Ellesméra is not hereditary," explained Oromis.

"And what if I too don't want to lead?" asked Eragon and Oromis smiled.

"Then there is the fact that Vrael foretold this. He knew that Galbatorix took the last eggs and before he has left for the final battle, he saw many things in the future, among them the Rider of the blue egg restoring the Order and bringing the peace to the land."

Eragon nodded and slouched while looking at the ground.

"What is it, Eragon?

Eragon shrugged, "It is just that no one ever expected anything from me and now I supposedly have the weight of an entire land on my shoulders. I don't think I can do a quarter of what you are expecting from me."

Oromis placed his hands on Eragon's shoulder, "Eragon, we believe in you, because we see something in you. Arya saw something in you in the moment you appeared here and it was she who stopped the elves that wanted to kill you in thst very moment. I saw something in you in the moment I spoke with you for the first time. Even Glaedr says you have a big heart and great future ahead of you and believe me, it's hard to impress a several centuries old dragon."

Eragon tried to laugh, but it came out in a rather awkward manner.

"I did not know they wanted to kill me," Eragon changed the theme. Oromis lowered his hands from Eragon's shoulder.

"Of course they wanted. No non-elf entered the forests since the Fall and the magical barriers which hide our dwellings contain some of the most powerful and ancient spells. I would be probably pretty shocked too and I have witnessed a lot of strange events."

"I'll have to thank Arya," Eragon remembered the elf who had already left them before.

"That would be a good idea. I think you will see her soon," stated Oromis, "I actually plan on asking her to come to you and teach you some of the basic elven customs. We cannot let you walk in front of the Court absolutely oblivious to them. Even the smallest misunderstanding can create a grudge which can last for centuries. But do not let this cloud your mind, you will be prepared. But now go and accommodate yourself in your new home."

"And then?"

"Eragon, from what Arya told me I understand that your world has been somehow more advanced and you were probably used to do things which are impossible to do here or you cannot even remember them because of your clouded memories. But do not let your mind sink in mood. I'm sure that in time you will find activities which you will be able to enjoy in your free time."

Eragon nodded and turned to ascend the stair which seemed to be naturally grown into the tree trunk.

"Eragon," sounded the voice of Oromis behind him which forced Eragon to turn again, "Try to communicate with your dragoness. Send her pictures with your mind and assign them with words. That way she will learn to speak faster. I will let send you some another books which are written in common speech, where you will be able to find dragon names. She will have to agree on the name and it can take hours to find the right one, just for a warning."

Eragon bowed his head towards the elf who in return twisted the right hand over his sternum and putting two fingers against his lips in a strange manner. Oromis then smiled at him once again, a true generous smile, and left him standing beneath the wooden giant.

His legs burned after a steep climb, but Eragon ignored the pain as he marveled over the beautiful interior of the tree house. A small entrance hall led into a three different rooms. The first one was a small kitchen; the second was a picturesque bedroom which was connected to the third one, which was the biggest of them all and was consisting of a large depression in the floor which was padded with cushions and pillows. In the wall there was a large hole in a shape of teardrop. Eragon assumed that the house also served to accommodate a large dragon. In the kitchen Eragon found a fireplace which was out of a very dense kind of wood.

When he came to the bedroom he found the small dragoness sitting contently on the large bed.

"And do you think you are doing here?" Eragon asked her as he sat beside her. She immediately sat into his lap and he started talking to her nonsensically, simply trying to teach her words just as Oromis had told him. In response he received wild emotions and pictures which seemed like someone looked through blue lenses, because the entire world was made of shades of blue.

* * *

**ARYA**

Arya had enough. She was waiting for Eragon to open the door for ten minutes and no response came from the tree house. She knew he was inside and it started to test her patience. She had always been hot headed for an elf.

_Maybe the two-legged is doing it on purpose, _Fírnen's deep voice resounded in her mind.

_Why would he do it? He has enough to worry about already, _Arya replied.

_Maybe he is testing you somehow even if he does not do it on purpose. Don't forget he came from an entirely different society. And he is a not-pointy-ears-two-legged._

_So what?_

_From what I saw through your eyes he was pretty stunned by your appearance, because as pointy-ears-two-legged you are pretty "exotic" for him. He might like your appearance._

Arya decided to ignore Fírnen's remarks, _Or he is simply sleeping. I am going in, _with that she opened the door.

Arya had never been inside. Even when she was moving out of her rooms in Tialdarí Hall, because Fírnen had grown too big to fit in them, she had not visited the former Vrael's house. She knew it was not meant for her.

Arya heard a loud snoring from the room on the right and when she ventured in, she found Eragon sleeping on the bed with the hatchling lying beside his body.

Arya send a jesting thought towards Fírnen, _Told you so, you overgrown lizard, _but he merely snorted back.

_Don't forget that the dragon is always right, my Greenleaf._

_Why are you still calling me that? _asked Arya inquiringly.

Fírnen send her a mental equivalent of laugh, _"Because you are as light as leaf and your eyes are just as green. I told you that many times._

Arya chose not to reply. She knew Fírnen was right.

She glanced at the small dragoness who was watching her intently, as if she was waiting for Arya to ask for a permission to approach.

"Eka aí fricai un Shur'tugal," Arya said loudly, for she knew that speaking to another's dragon directly through mind without permission was considered an insult. She knew that the dragoness would understand the meaning of her words.

The blue hatchling snorted and nodded her consent. Arya approached Eragon's sleeping figure. His face looked peaceful. She remembered some of the memories she had seen in his mind. He had not lived a very good life. It must have been hard to live in an orphanage. Eragon however seemed practically unaffected by it.

But there was one thing that was strange about him. In his memories she had not seen anyone using a magic. From that she assumed that the people from his world did not have a magical potential. As far as she knew, every Rider of the past had a magic coursing through his veins before their bonding with the dragon, even humans. And then there was his name.

Arya had an idea about it all, but it was wild and her reasons were only inaccurate guesses. But Arya knew that Oromis was also suspecting something.

Arya found herself starring at the sleeping figure, waiting for him to wake up, but he seemed to be content with sleeping.

_He seems to be a heavy sleeper, _noticed Fírnen.

_Or maybe he is just tired. His last few days were very taxing and he is only a human._

_I was merely jesting; don't forget that I like to sleep a lot too, _Arya heard Fírnen laugh again.

Arya coughed loudly, trying to wake up Eragon, but he did not respond. She called him by his name and even jabbed him, but to no avail. So she resorted to the most efficient way.

"_Vakna_," she commanded and Eragon's figure shot up straight. The hatchling growled as he looked around bewildered. Then he noticed her standing beside the bed.

"Oh, Arya, what is it?" he asked.

"I brought you more clothes. They were woven by my cousin Niduen and they are made of the finest materials," she threw the bag with the clothes on him and he almost got hit in the face by it.

"Thank you," to Arya it seemed that Eragon still acted rather shyly and strangely. He got up from the bed and started unpacking the many clothes she brought him.

"Why did you bring it by yourself?" Eragon asked, "Surely your father could sent some servant and not bother his daughter with an inferior task."

Eragon was facing the closet in the corner of the room so he did not see Arya's face getting slightly red with anger.

_He thinks I am a spoilt child!_

_All he knows about you is the fact that you are practically a princess. You cannot blame him for those mind processes, _Fírnen's calm voice tried to sooth her mind.

_Oh, _was all she sent back to him. She had no idea why Eragon's behavior was affecting her this way.

"Oromis also asked me to introduce you into the elven manners, especially those you will need to use when interacting with the Court and with the King and Queen. I think there should be a study somewhere in the house."

Eragon turned to face her, "A study? Well, let me see…," he walked out of the bedroom with the small dragon following him. Arya wondered if they had already established some kind of connection. She and Fírnen were able to complete the basic forms of communication after their first day, but Arya had been much more used to the mind communication than Eragon was now.

"I think I found it," sounded Eragon's voice from the entrance hall. Arya followed him and there and noticed him standing by a door she did not notice the first time she passed by them. She then followed Eragon who climbed another staircase which led into a nice study.

At the end of the room opposite to her there was a large window through which the sun rays poured into the room. Arya grew slightly envious of Eragon, because his tree was taller and the light here was better than in her tree house. Along the walls stood wooden bookcases and Arya noticed that several writings still lay in these. Under the window stood a desk with two chairs, each with delicate carvings of dragons and many other creatures of the forest.

Eragon sat in one of the chairs and motioned to Arya to sit in another. But before she did, Arya addressed the small dragoness who was still standing in the door.

"If you want food, Fírnen has brought some leftovers from his kill. He is outside," the hatchling was gone sooner than Arya finished the last sentence. With that Arya sat in a softly cushioned chair with high armrests.

"You probably already noticed, but the native language of elves is Ancient Language. The elven society applies many rules for every situation which might prove difficult for you to understand at first," started Arya, noticing that Eragon watched her intently, "The words and gestures we use are different for probably every possible situation. However you can never go wrong when you start the conversation with the traditional greeting which consists of three parts. The person of a lesser status initiates the greeting with the first line which is '_Atra esterní ono thelduin_', which means 'May good fortune rule over you'."

"_Atra est-esterní… _Can I write it down?" asked Eragon. Arya nodded and Eragon proceeded to open one of the drawers in the table which, to Arya's surprise, still contained few long parchments and a small bottle of ink which was half full. Eragon also drew a long quill which, to Arya's knowledge, originated from the giant eagles which lived in the Shining Mountains in the northern parts of Du Weldenvarden.

"Can you repeat it, please?" asked Eragon while preparing the writing tools. Arya repeated the first line of the greeting and Eragon wrote it down.

"Is it right?" he asked while her handing the paper.

"Yes, it is. Only the 'i' in _esterní _has an acute accent above it and it is pronounced long," Arya corrected the mistake and handed the paper back to Eragon, who written down also a few notes for his later understanding, "You have an interesting handwriting. Quite unique from what I've ever seen before," she told him.

Eragon smiled, "In my previous world, the system of writing was somehow unified so the handwritings of most of people were quite similar, including me," he paused and laughed, "In fact, the reason why I did not get past the first page of the book you brought me, is that I had hard time deciphering it."

Arya smiled too, she found the fact quite amusing, "I guess, you will have to get used to it."

Eragon nodded, "Can we continue?" he asked.

"Of course. The second part of the greeting is said by the second speaker. It is '_Mor'ranr lífa unin hjarta onr_' which means 'Peace live in your heart'. "

Eragon wrote it down and this time he had it right.

"The third part of the greeting is said by the first speaker again. This part is optional, but I advise you to use it always, at least until you become more comfortable with the delicate nuances of Ancient Language and the traditions of our society. It is '_Un du evarínya ono varda_' and it means 'And the stars watch over you'.

Eragon again wrote it down and Arya then proceeded to elven prefixes and suffixes which were used while addressing person. An hour later, Eragon had the entire parchment covered with notes and words of Ancients Language.

"Do you understand everything I told you?" asked Arya.

"I think so," he paused, obviously wanting to say something, "Oromis told me that it was you who saved my life when I appeared in front of the Council. They wanted to execute me. I wanted to thank you for it."

Arya nodded, she did not know why she had acted in that moment, but her act was proven to be right, "You are welcome."

"From that and from what you told me, I can expect not so friendly environment in my meeting with the Council."

Arya nodded, "There are elven Lords and Ladies who still hold grudge against the entire human race. However you will have support of Oromis, who is being considered as probably the wisest of our kind, and of course the support of the royal family," she tried to give him an encouraging smile, "That would be enough to protect you and your interest even if the entire race stood against you and that is not the matter. The Dragon Riders still hold great honor in the elven society and the dragons are considered as figures above our society and its laws."

Eragon nodded and breathed out with relief.

"Is there anything else of importance you need do discuss?" he asked.

Arya shook her head, "No. I merely want to talk about you and the hatchling. Have you started communicating yet?

Eragon nodded, "Yes, it is still strange for me. But there were only few pictures and emotions sent in both ways. I tried to explain her words with images, as Oromis…-elda advised me."

"You learn fast," Arya noted.

Eragon sighed, "I have nothing else to do in fact."

"You will soon find activities which you will enjoy. And when your dragon is big enough to carry you, there will be nothing else you would want to do then roaming the skies together."

Eragon laughed, "I still find a bit strange that I should fly on her so freely in so dangerous manner."

Arya frowned, "What do you mean?"

"As I remember, in my world there were flying machines which were in my opinion much safer. But opinions can change of course."

"Do you still have troubles with your memories?" Arya inquired.

"Yes, I cannot remember many specific details in many of my memories, especially in those where the things and machines are much more advanced in comparison with the level of evolution in this world. I'm not sure if it is a good or bad thing."

"What do you mean?" asked Arya.

"There are things in my world which are terrible. Weapons that could wipe out life in entire forest in a second or kill a man with a movement of a finger," Eragon performed a strange movement with his hand with two fingers pointing on her, "I think that whatever or whoever decided to send me here restricted my memories so I would not bring a devastation into this land."

"Let us hope that you will make new, good memories in this world," Arya accompanied this sentence with a kind smile and Eragon nodded gratefully.

"I need to go now," she announced and stood up, "If you need anything, I am residing in the second tree house on the right on the way from here to the center of Ellesméra. Oromis do not live in exactly in the city, so you would not be able to reach for his help."

Eragon inclined his head towards her, "Thank you for everything you are doing for me, Arya… Svit-Kona."

_He is really learning fast, _noticed Fírnen.

Arya said her goodbye to Eragon and left him sitting in the study with the new written scroll in front of him.

* * *

**ERAGON**

The next week passed by painfully slowly for Eragon. He spent times with the dragoness who started growing on a fast rate and was already three times bigger than in the moment she hatched. Eragon slowly started to understand what Oromis meant with all those talks about partnership and eternal bond. Even if the two were communicating only through images and feelings, Eragon could not tear himself from her and he slowly started forgetting how he had lived without the blue creature constantly in his presence.

Eragon saw Oromis only once when the elf came to ask about the hatchling, but they did not talk much. Arya visited him quite regularly, often bringing scrolls and books with her for him to have something to do. But Eragon still spend most of the time alone and he did not know what exactly they had been waiting for.

He had to wait an entire long week until something happened.

It was in the evening when Eragon came out from the bath tub which he found in the alcove in the bedroom. He was in the process of putting on trousers for a sleep when suddenly a deep, but feminine voice sounded in his mind.

_Eragon_

The said looked wildly around before his sight befell on the dragoness who was already watching him intently.

"That was you?" he spoke aloud.

_Yes_

"So you can speak already?" Eragon definitely did not expect her to speak so early, but Oromis' advices probably helped.

_Yes_

"Can you say anything else than 'yes'?"

_Yes_

"Are you toying with me now?"

_Yes, _Eragon started to grow annoyed, _You could use some fun, little one._

"Did you just call me little one?"

_Yes_

"If there is anyone who is little, it is definitely you," pointed out Eragon, but he heard the dragoness chuckling in his mind.

_I will grow soon and then you will be the little one forever._

"This is not funny," protested Eragon, "I think that we should try to find a name for you now."

_Name? _she asked uncertainly.

"Yes name, like mine, Eragon."

_I like Eragon._

"That is my name and it is a male name, you need a different one. So Arya brought me a few books…"

_Arya? Is that the pointy-ears-two-legged Rider of Fírnen? _she inquired.

The mind process on the dragon slightly confused Eragon, but he managed to respond.

"Yes, you will meet her soon."

_Do you like her?_

"What?" Eragon asked in disbelief at his dragon's stupid questions, "Of course, she is the only one her who talks to me," he knew that the dragoness probably meant the question in a different way, but he had never thought about it in that way.

"So as I said, I have made a list of names. I will tell them to you and you will choose the one you like."

_Yes! _she squeaked with a childish excitement.

"And here we go – Agaravel?"

_No_

"Ophelia?"

_No_

"Kindra"

_No_

"Greufen"

_Nope_

And it went in that manner for hours. It was already an early morning when Eragon came to the last name in his list. It seemed somehow special to him so he kept it as a last resort.

"Are you Saphira?"

The dragoness seemed to think about it for a good few moments before her answer.

_Yes_


	5. The Council

******Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Christopher Paolini.**

* * *

**ERAGON**

Eragon was woken by the sound of finger knuckles knocking on the door. He rolled out of the bed and fell on the ground. He stood up, cursing, and stumbled out of the bedroom while rubbing his eyes.

Eragon opened the door and found Arya whose sight fell immediately on his chest. He looked down and noticed for the first time that he had not put a shirt on. His blushed and motioned for her to enter while running back to the bedroom to pull a red shirt with brown quilting.

Eragon looked to his right and spotted Arya bent over Saphira who had already started sleeping in the room with the cushioned depression in the floor.

"Is she talking to you?" voiced Eragon his question and both females in front of him turned their heads towards him.

"She to me or…" started Arya.

_She to me? _finished Saphira while projecting her thoughts to both of them which startled Arya who clearly did not expect it.

"She is already talking?" asked Arya in disbelief.

"Yes. Why are you so surprised?"

"Oh, nothing," answered Arya, but a frown appeared on appeared on her face, "Just that it took Fírnen ten days to start talking," Eragon could hear a hint of envy in her voice, as if she was angry at herself that it had taken Fírnen longer to start speaking. She was definitely a perfectionist.

"I spoke to her a lot. You know that I don't have much to do," Eragon tried to give her a reassuring smile.

"Of course," was Arya's stiff reply, "Can I talk to her?"

_Tell her that as Rider she can always talk to me directly, _said Saphira and Eragon repeated her answer to Arya, even if he was not really happy about somebody else talking to Saphira in such an intimate way.

_She is not someone else, Little One. She is a fellow Rider and a friend. Don't forget that it was she who had been transporting the eggs between the elves and the Varden, _said Saphira who was simultaneously talking with Arya, but Eragon could not hear their conversation.

_Really? I did not know that. I would never expect that, _replied Eragon.

_She does not seem to be your typical member of royalty._

_Hmm, _grumbled Eragon.

_You should not judge people when you do not know much about them, Little One._

_How did you become so wise overnight? _asked Eragon sarcastically.

Saphira laughed in his mind, _Don't forget that even if I am young in the body, my mind contains the ancient thoughts and knowledge of my race. Nothing is wiser than the dragon, _she finished proudly.

Eragon had no answer to this, so he tried to change the theme.

_Very well. What are you talking about with her?_

_Ah, we've just exchanged the official greetings and she is now staring at your blank face, _Saphira started laughing again when she finished.

Eragon looked up and found that Arya was really staring at him with an expression of amusement clear on her face.

Eragon shook his head which Arya took as a signal that his conversation had ended.

"I think that we should now inform the King and also Oromis-elda about Saphira's ability to talk. It will hopefully start a progress in our matters. Come," Arya beckoned him with her hand and left and walked out of the room towards the door of the tree house. Eragon followed her, excited with the possibility of something finally happening.

"Where are we going?" he asked when they descended on the forest surface.

"We are going to inform King and Queen. Fírnen flew away to inform Oromis-elda. The Council will be gathered and if everything goes well, tonight the official celebration will be hold," Arya answered without breaking her swift, long stride and Eragon barely managed to keep up with her pace.

Eragon noticed that many elves were looking at their small company and many of them bowed, although Eragon had a feeling that he was definitely the last one anyone would bow to.

They soon arrived in front of a huge complex of buildings which seemed to be built in a perfect combination. Arya however ignored the main wooden gate and led them to the side of the palace. There she stood in front of a smaller, but equally decorated door and spoke loudly with her clear, musical voice. The words were those of Ancient Language, but Arya translated them to him immediately.

_Root of a tree, _

_fruit of a vine,_

_let me pass by _

_this blood of mine._

The wooden gate flew open and Eragon followed Arya into a place which looked like heaven to him.

They were standing in the most beautiful garden he had ever seen. Everywhere around him grew all kinds of flowers he could imagine. The blossoms of all colors imaginable were hanging over their heads while they walked along the one of many grassy paths which ran in many ways and zigzagged between the flowerbeds.

_There are many impressive green-blue-red things here, _commented Saphira and Eragon had to surpass a laugh as he followed Arya into a small clearing among the many beauties of the nature.

There, by a small wooden bench, was standing a person which Eragon recognized as King Evandar. On the bench beside him was sitting a woman which Eragon assumed was Arya's mother, Queen Islandazí. When they neared the pair, Eragon noticed that Arya and her mother were very much alike, with long, ebony hair and tall figure, but Islandazí had a much more regal aura around her, which Eragon noted even before approaching her.

The two elves noticed them and their sharp gazes immediately fell on Eragon and Saphira who was trailing behind Eragon's feet.

Eragon grew very nervous during their walk there and now he was almost trembling. Queen Islandazí definitely did not look like a very friendly person at the first glance. She wore a long crimson robe and from her shoulders was hanging a cape, which was made from something Eragon recognized as swan feathers. On her forehead rested a bright diadem.

King Evandar on the other hand bore the same, kind look on his face as he had during their first meeting. He was dressed in quite simple black tunic which was matched in color by his pants. A scabbard for a long sword however hung on his belt.

They neared them and Arya stepped to the side to give Eragon a room for him paying his regard. Eragon dropped to his knee in front of the Queen who in turn stood up.

"Rise, Shur'tugal. We do not need to care about those formalities in an informal meeting."

Eragon did as she said, but he still was not sure about the entire situation. He touched his lips with two fingers and followed with the elven greeting.

"Islandazí Dröttning, _Atra esterní ono thelduin_," said Eragon in a slightly shaky voice. The presence of the Queen was simply overwhelming.

"_Mor'ranr lífa unin hjarta onr_," responded the Queen in a cold tone.

_What is wrong with she? _thought Eragon to Saphira before completing the greeting.

"_Un du evarínya ono varda_," said Eragon and he saw a hint of acceptance in the Queen's eyes, but it was gone in that very moment.

_We'll have to discover what is wrong with the queen-two-legs, _answered Saphira while Eragon was exchanging the greeting with King Evandar. Eragon again chuckled at the Saphira's strange vocabulary which led into Islandazí's raised eyebrow. She however did not question him.

Eragon completed the greeting with the elven King and breathed out in relief. He was sure that he had not messed up anything. Arya meanwhile completed the same greeting with both monarchs which seemed pretty impersonal. She however proceeded to hug them both and Eragon noticed that she hugged her father tighter and Islandazí did not seem very happy about that.

_I wonder what is wrong between Arya and the Queen, _said Eragon to Saphira.

_Maybe their relationship is the reason why the Queen acts so coldly, Little One, _sent Saphira her thoughts to him.

"Now tell, why you three have searched us?" asked the King.

"The dragoness started talking. You said that we will assemble the Council as soon as it happens," announced Arya and the same shocked face, which had appeared on Arya's face earlier, came to their fair faces.

"So early?" asked Islandazí in disbelief and Arya and Eragon nodded in unison.

Islandazí then approached Saphira who was watching the Queen with a thoughtful look.

"What is your name, _Skulblaka_?" she inquired.

_Saphira, _projected the dragoness to all of them and to Eragon it seemed that both monarchs remembered something in that moment.

"Welcome to Ellesméra, Saphira. I hope you are finding your stay here enjoyable."

_It is a nice place to hatch in, _answered Saphira and it seemingly pleased the Queen enough to make her smile slightly.

"That definitely is, but I am afraid that your stay here won't last long," intervene King Evandar as a shadow passed over his face, "And that is why the Council will be assembled in an hour. Until then let us treat our guests with a lunch. If you would follow," he finished and turned to walk further into the palace complex.

Soon the four of them were sitting in a smaller garden by a white, rectangular table. In front of them were all kinds of vegetarian meals and also several bottles of wine, which politely declined as he had never been a wine person. He however did not have guts to ask for ale. They had been practically silent during the meal, but now when they finished, Islandazí seemed to be eager to ask Eragon some uncomfortable questions.

"So, Eragon-finirael," Eragon knew it was some kind of honorific title for a young man, but he doubted that Islandazí had actually meant it, "Did you read about your namesake?"

"Yes, I did. He seems to be a great figure in the history of Alagaësia. It is a big honor to bear the name, even if it is a bit strange."

"What do you mean?" inquired Islandazí.

"I have never heard of anyone of this name in the previous world. The kids around me even used to laugh at my name, because it was so strange. And then I came here and discovered that I share the name with probably the most important person in the history of this land. I say it is a strange coincidence," Eragon finished. He saw a hint of recognition flew across Arya's face, as if her thoughts were similar to his.

"That is interesting, but we cannot assume anything out of it, can we?" said Evandar mysteriously, as if he knew something more about the matter, "I think we should head to the Throne room. The Council will commence in ten minutes.

* * *

**ARYA**

Arya was sitting on a high chair on her mother's side in the council room. Fírnen was sitting in an opening specially created for him as they were waiting for the Council to commence. Arya had been watching nervous Eragon for the last few minutes. Almost every Lord and Lady demanded that they will exchange greetings with him and Saphira before the Council begins, but Arya could see an obvious dislike or even an open hatred in the eyes of some of them. Eragon seemed to be very well aware of that fact no, but even in his nervousness, he did not flinch from the contact and he approached everyone with his head holding high proudly.

Saphira on the other was basking in the praises she had been receiving from all sides. The hatred of those who openly manifested it was directed only on Eragon and him being a human. Even those still held the dragons in the highest regard. And Saphira was of course dragon and the enormous pride had always been the main attribute of her race.

When all of four and twenty Lords and Ladies were seated, her Father finally commenced the Council. Arya noted that Oromis was not present.

"We have gathered today to discuss the matters involving Shur'tugal Eragon and Skulblaka Saphira," the King began, "The questions of their training and their allegiance need to be answered," he ended and eyed the room, waiting if someone wanted to speak.

One Lady who Arya recognized Glaesïa of House Haldthin stood up. Her rich, green robe was waving around her as if strong wind was coursing through the room around her.

"What is there to discuss? Let Oromis-elda train him in the same manner in which he is training Arya Dröttningu. And his allegiance will be solved by that arrangement too, even if he is only a human," Glaesïa was one of those who were not happy with the human Rider. The sounds of nods and approval however resounded in the hall.

"This issue is not so easy to solve," started her father his explanation, "Eragon is human and therefore the rights to train him belong to the Varden, according to the deal we made with them after the eggs had been stolen."

Shouts and raised voices sounded in the room in disapproval, but Evandar silenced them with a gesture of his hand.

"If we want to honor our pact with the Varden, we need to send Eragon and Saphira to them and call for Brom to train them during the first segment of the Rider's training, as has been agreed in the treaty signed by me and Deynor, Leader of the Varden at that time. Does anyone of you want to question my word?" he eyed the entire room with fierceness in his gaze. That was the side of her father Arya did not see often, but she knew that the King was the deadliest of opponents in both weapon and words when he decided to fight over his beliefs.

Arya in fact knew that her father was going Eragon and Saphira to the Varden independently on the opinion of the Council. In the King's opinion, the Council had already done too much damage in the past with their conservativeness and passiveness and he decided to take the matters into his own hands, as was his right as their King. She also knew that father had other things on his mind and some of them will be definitely condemned even by the Queen.

Meanwhile the next round of shouts in the hall silenced and Arya watched Lord Fiolr of House Valtharos rise from his seat.

"Do you really want to send them to the Varden, Evandar Könungr? Do you want to deepen the already catastrophic course of events surrounding the hatching of the blue egg?" he said in an ingratiating voice.

"Explain yourself, Lord Fiolr." demanded the King immediately.

"To put it shortly, my King, the fact that the dragon hatched for a human is a big weakening of our plans. We should oversee his training to assure ourselves that he will become at least somehow useful."

The entire room fell silent at the obvious disdain and hatred in the black haired elf's words. The shock spread over all faces, even over those who somehow shared their opinions with Lord Fiolr.

Arya watched Eragon gripping the armrests of his seat in something between shock, disgust and anger. And she also watched Saphira making her way proudly towards the standing Lord.

She stopped directly in front of him and Arya saw visible anger in her deep, blue eyes. Even Fiolr flinched after a moment.

_Are you questioning my choice, two-leg?_ Saphira projected her thoughts to the entire assembly andArya had to suppress a chuckle at the dragon's odd choice of words. Even after being bonded to Fírnen for more than six months, the dragon vocabulary still amused her.

"Of course not, Skulblaka. I am merely stating the facts…"

_Your facts are pointless. The strength and power is not everything it takes to achieve the desired goal. And you, you are insulting my Rider and he does not even know in which way are round-ears-two-legged weaker than pointy-ears-two-legged, _she finished with a growl and let her words sank into the minds of all attenders.

Then, to Arya's pleasant surprise, Eragon stood and spoke for himself.

"I am not going to pretend that I know in which way I am weaker than your race, although I presume it has something to do with both physical and magical capabilities," he sighed before continuing, "I have never asked for this position. I was thrown into this world as a blind child, not knowing where I am or what is happening to me. In fact even now I had no idea what is being wanted from me to do," his head fell down, but when he raised it moment later, Arya saw a flame of determination burning in his brown eyes.

"I can however assure that I will do whatever it takes to success in our task. I just ask for some trust," Eragon paused and looked straight into the elven Lord's eyes, "A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts," he said in quiet but strong voice and returned to his seat.

Saying that Arya was surprised would be a weak description of her state. She definitely did not expect those words from Eragon and when she looked over the hall, nobody did. His short speech was both honest and wise in its simplicity.

The sounds of agreements were being heard in the hall. Eragon somehow managed to get the majority of the Court on his side. But not all of them were happy about his words.

Lord Fiolr was still standing in front of his seat, fuming with anger.

"You dare to insult me, Rider?" he hissed while trying to sound powerful and but Eragon held his gaze without breaking a sweat.

"I spoke only honest words, my Lord," said Eragon in calm tone, but it seemed to enrage Fiolr even more.

"Don't play with me, kid," he growled, "I am much stronger than you."

Arya had enough. She would not stand for someone insulting the Rider in front of the entire court. She stood up sharply and every eye in the hall turned in her direction.

"Are you really trying to impress us with your power, Lord Fiolr, in front of the entire Court? Seriously?" she added an irony into her tone. She did care about what her parents or others would think about in that moment.

Fiolr seemed to be caught off-guard, but he quickly regained his bearing.

"And why is it that you care so much about this weakling, Dröttningu? Perhaps his pretty face…"

"ENOUGH," thundered her father's voice. Arya looked at him and saw that he was standing in front of his throne, tall and powerful, with a hand on the pommel of his sword. His eyes were blazing with fury and all of it was concentrated on Lord Fiolr who stumbled backwards and fell back into his seat. The king meanwhile calmed himself.

"You are overstepping your boundaries, Fiolr. Mind your words next time you speak," said Evandar in calm, but slightly poisonous tone, "We need to finish this matter. Eragon and Saphira will go to the Varden and the first phase of their training will be done by Brom. Is anyone against this plan?"

Arya saw only a few hands being raised, definitely not enough for her father to even discuss over the matter further.

"Then this matter is settled," Evandar then briefly glanced at Arya who in turn nodded at him, knowing what he was going to discuss now. She saw him sigh before he presented the next part of the plan.

"I also intend for Arya and Fírnen to accompany them," these words shocked the assemblage more than anything before. The whole hall remained silent for few long moments before the shouts of disagreement again erupted.

Arya saw her mother switching her gaze between her mate and her daughter furiously. She probably discovered that they plotted this without telling her.

And it was her mother who spoke first.

"Why are you sending our daughter to a certain death which is waiting in the outside world without even informing me about this ordeal?" asked Islandazí with venom in her voice. Arya could not tell what angered her mother more, if the whole plot or the fact that they had not told her.

"I am not sending her to death," replied Evandar in calm voice, "She needs to venture outside the forest and get some experience with being alone with Fírnen without a permanent protection. And Eragon needs guard for his travels and for his stay with the Varden. In fact, I already spoke with Oromis Shur'tugal on this matter and he agrees with our idea. Arya of course won't be the only member of the party as I shall send ten of our best warriors and spell casters with them."

Islandazí nodded after a moment, but Arya knew that her mother was still furious on the inside. The one who was beyond furious openly was again Fiolr who was already standing in front of his seat again.

"This is utter foolishness. What has gotten onto your mind that you plan to sacrifice your own daughter and our only hope for a sake of pathetic training of this weakling," he pointed his finger at Eragon whose hands turned white from the firmness he was griping the armrests of his seat. Saphira was standing in front of him, growling dangerously at the Lord who seemed out of his mind.

"And you," Fiolr hissed while looking at Eragon who met his look with a dignity, "You come here, you take our biggest chance of winning this war away again and then you craze our King and his daughter into this foolishness. You should be…"

"ENOUGH," thundered in the hall for the second time of the day and the word had been spoken by the same person as before.

King Evandar was standing under the platform where the thrones were placed. Arya could see that her father was now beyond furious. The air around him vibrated with the power which was emanating from his body and Arya knew that it took all his willpower to keep it within himself and not unleashed at the snake-tongued Lord.

Evandar finally calmed down a little, but the hatred was still present in his silver eyes.

"Fiolr, you have gone too far. I warned you, but you left me with no other possibility," he breathed in and out before making his statement, "Fiolr, from this moment you are stripped of title of Lord. For your racist and quack words you will never get back the title back. You are banned from this hall for two hundred years and for the same duration the seat which belongs to your house shall remain empty. Now be gone from my presence."

The shock spread across the hall for the tenth time that day as they watched Fiolr stumbling out of the room with a look of someone who lost everything. Nothing like that happened in centuries and no one definitely saw it coming.

Arya was actually quite happy and she felt that Fírnen shared her opinion. Fiolr had always been the worst of the Lords, with his cowardly and unctuous words. When the ex-Lord finally disappeared from their sights, the atmosphere in the council room visibly loosened. Arya watched now calm Eragon whose face was now deprived of its previous anger.

Her father meanwhile returned to his throne. He put his head on his hand and then spoke.

"Does anyone have a different plan than that which I presented? The plan needs to both honor our pact with the Varden and to ensure that our Riders will be safe," the room remained silent.

"Then the second and last matter of today's council is solved. My daughter and Eragon, along with the dragons and their guard, will travel to the Varden in one month time. The details will be addressed later. The Council ends," he announced and Arya saw all Lords and Ladies hurrying towards the only door, eager to be gone out of the tense atmosphere.

But Arya knew that the events of that day were only the first entries in the long line of future problems.


	6. An Unexpected Friend

******Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Christopher Paolini.**

* * *

**ARYA**

Fírnen's mighty wings were carrying them over the endless green of Du Weldenvarden. Arya had to reach around her head to reattach her headband which started loosening in the strong air currents which were hitting their bodies constantly.

_How far away from Ceris are we now, Fírnen? _asked Arya when she finished reattaching her leather headband and she could see on their way clearly again.

_No more than few hours, I think I can already see the edges of the forest. _his deep voice answered.

_Great, I would like to make it before the sunset, so we could contact Brom without waking him from the sleep. He can be a bit grumpy._

_I would like to finally meet the two-leg._

_Soon, Fírnen. But remember that no one outside the forest knows about me and you, or about Eragon and Saphira. And we want to keep those secrets as long as we can. Brom will know as soon as he arrives to the Varden. Then he and Ajihad will contact us and we will tell them everything, _Arya explained.

_And what will you tell him now? _Fírnen inquired.

_That a matter which needs his immediate attention arose. It will at least give him something to ponder about._

Arya was asked by her father to venture with Fírnen out of Du Weldenvarden and contact Brom through the means of scrying which could not be done in the forest because of the magical barriers. Their journey from Ellesméra to Ceric lasted two days. Arya originally wanted to fly just south of Ellesméra, past Kírtan. But her father commanded her to fly to Ceris for a safety reasons after a persuasions from her mother. After the last year ambush in the forests in the west part of Du Weldenvarden, Islandazí had been more than ever concerned about her daughter's safety. Ceris was located practically at the edge of the forest and far to the east from the Empire, so her mother considered this direction more acceptable.

Arya thought about the ambush. They were ferrying the eggs from the elven city Osilon to Ellesméra when her small party was ambushed by Shade and his minions. She remembered the shock she felt when the first enchanted arrow flew past their wards and struck Glenwing in the shoulder and the other arrows which barely missed her, Fäolin or their steeds. She remembered the Shade who was known through the land as Durza and his evil maroon eyes when he showed himself in front of them.

Arya had to surpass a tear when she remembered how Glenwing remained behind and allowed the escape for her and Fäolin. After a lucky spell from Fäolin which separated them from Durza and Glenwing she saw how the Shade decapitated Glenwing in anger.

Arya suppressed those memories. Glenwing had fallen for their thing and he knew what he had been doing. She would not dishonor her friend by being weak when he had sacrificed himself for their task.

Arya thought of Fäolin instead. After Fírnen hatched Fäolin took over the position of elven ambassador with the Varden and she had not seen him for more than six months. She yearned to talk with her friend and she hoped she would have opportunity to do so while fulfilling her position as Eragon's guard. Her thoughts and feelings were so confused after the latest events that she needed someone to talk. Not her father, because he lately he had enough problems to solve for himself. Not Fírnen who had been an extension of her mind and he could not bring her the answers she needed.

No, Arya needed an outside output and Fäolin would definitely provide it for her.

Fírnen finally flew over Ceris and over the edge of the forest. He landed by the river Edda and Arya jumped down from the saddle. She stretched her lean, tensed muscles and looked around. The land around her was beautiful. She felt the forest's presence behind her and in front she saw rich, green plains which stretched far to the east beyond the line of horizon. Arya thought about the long distances and lands in front of her and wondered what wonders lay out there.

_Perhaps we will be able to venture out there when our task is complete, _suggested Fírnen.

Arya turned around and saw the partner of her mind and heart watching her intently.

_If we succeed, _she whispered and sobbed.

_No, Greenleaf, when we succeed, because we will. Do not let dark thoughts plague your mind in the moments of hope. Don't forget that our chances are now the highest they have ever been._

Arya could not stand it any longer and threw herself on Fírnen's strong neck. She enwrapped him in her arms, although she could not embrace him whole.

_Oh, Fírnen, what would I do without you?_ she cried out.

Fírnen laughed, _And why would you think about that possibility? Am I not the most awesome creature in the world?_

_You know I did not mean it that way._

He laughed again, _Of course I know, my Greenleaf. Now stop sobbing and contact Brom before he succumbs to sleep._

Arya nodded and walked onto the river shore. She squatted down and watched the flowing water for a moment.

"_Draumr kopa!" _she commanded while thinking about the mirror which Brom used for scrying. Because Galbatorix knew that Brom was alive, the secluded Rider casted wards on himself which prevented anyone from scrying him directly. The mirror however carried none of these none of those arrangements.

The image appeared on the water surface and it was almost entirely white, because Arya had never seen those surroundings before. She however saw Brom's hunched figure sitting on something which she presumed was a chair.

He did not notice her so she took in his appearance. His hair and beard were longer and grayer and he generally looked older. Arya knew that behind this shell was still a powerful figure and she hoped that the news will fuse a spirit back to the Rider's mind and body. Arya had no idea how this man could survive without his dragon. She knew that she would die if Fírnen would leave her. Only now it came to Arya that Brom's dragon name had been Saphira and she wondered how the old man would react to Eragon's young dragoness after learning her name.

"_Vinr-Alfakyn," _Arya addressed Brom by the title which had been given to him by her father before the Rider secluded himself.

She saw Brom's head jerk as the Rider wildly looked around before his sight fell on the mirror. He immediately stood and walked over to the place the mirror was standing.

He looked at her with surprise and immediately put two fingers on his lips to proceed with the elven greeting. After they finished, Brom was the first one to speak.

"Arya Dröttningu, it has been too long," Brom said in deep, wise voice.

"Indeed Brom. I hope you did not think that we would forget the Elf-Friend," replied Arya.

Brom laughed, "Of course not. To what I owe this pleasure?"

Arya gulped, not entirely sure how to approach the situation without giving away too much.

"The situation for which we have been waiting for arose," she said carefully, but she saw a look of knowing in Brom's deep, blue eyes in the moment she finished the sentence.

"Which one?" he asked swiftly in Ancient Language and Arya knew that she had been beaten.

"Father did not want me to tell you the details for now," she answered slowly.

"But I know the part of them now. And I am not going to tell anyone, you know it."

"I should not," said Arya quietly.

"It can be our secret. It would not be the first one," replied Brom kindly.

Arya sighed; she had to tell him now.

"Both," she said simply and put on a small smile at bringing joyous news into the life of man who had lost so much.

Brom's eyes widened in joy as he gasped for an air. He definitely did not expect that.

"To whom?"

"An elf and a human."

"Do I know them?" Brom inquired.

"You know the elf," said Arya with a smile.

"You?" Brom understood her swiftly and Arya nodded.

"Those are the most joyous news I have heard since the Fall," exclaimed Brom and Arya saw as his eyes lightened up and joy and determination appeared in them, "I cannot imagine better Rider than you Arya. How long has it been since the hatching?"

"Roughly six months ago."

"I am assuming that Osthato Chetowä has been training you ever since."

"Yes, Oromis-elda has been training me and Fírnen. Speaking of him, he would like to see you," added Arya after listening to Fírnen's pleads for the entire last minute. Brom nodded and Arya moved slightly to the side to make a room for the large dragon's body. Fírnen lowered his head above the water surface and stared intently at the old Rider.

"It is honor to meet you, Skulblaka. I am glad that two new members of your race are roaming the skies again, freely," said Brom with deep emotions in his voice and bowed.

_Tell him, that it is my honor to meet the man who made this possible and that I am eager to meet him in person._

Arya repeated Fírnen's words and Brom's glistened as he silently thanked Fírnen.

"Green suits you," said Brom towards Arya after he collected himself, "Although I am surprised that the blue egg hatched for human. I was thinking that the egg was destined to hatch for elf, because of the Vrael's prophecy."

"The circumstances surrounding the hatching are probably even stranger. The egg hatched in Ellesméra after a young human man appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the Council," Arya announced. Brom's head shot up.

"What did you say?" he questioned her swiftly.

"That man appeared out of the air straight in front of the pedestal where egg was placed. Before anyone could do anything he touched the egg and then fell unconscious. The elves wanted to kill him in the moment, but I sensed the egg's inkling towards its potential Rider and the man was spared. We discovered that he man is not from this world, as in his memories were things I could never imagine. The egg hatched for him after two days."

"That is very, very strange. I have never heard about anything even slightly similar to this," said Brom quickly, but Arya had a feeling that he, alike Oromis, had already his own theory which he did not share with her.

"Those events must have shocked the Court pretty badly. Their lives were very slow and peaceful since the Fall," said Brom after a moment to disrupt the silence

"Yes, the hatching of the blue egg already created tension in the Court and those Lords and Ladies do not even know about the prophecy. Father even stripped Fiolr of his title after he had been insulting the Rider and his race constantly."

"That was to be expected. Fiolr has been biased towards my race ever since his mate and her brother were killed in Ilirea," replied Brom, but Arya saw that his mind was elsewhere.

"You know what this means, _Vinr-Alfakyn._ Even if this man is not from this world, he is a human and the rights to train him belong to the Varden and so to you."

"Of course, of course," nodded Brom hurriedly, "I will leave tomorrow and make my way to Farthen Dûr immediately. If everything goes well, I should be there in month at the most."

"We are too planning on leaving in month. We will contact you and Ajihad as soon as we leave the forest. I hope you will be able to make some preparations to keep our arrival quiet. Don't forget that the Varden do not even know about Fírnen's hatchling."

"Yes, I will think of something. I already have a few ideas," said Brom.

"Be careful Brom. Did you hear about the last year ambush by Durza?" Brom nodded, "We fear that there are traitors in Varden's line, probably someone in high position. If you need help, ask Fäolin, he took over the position of my father's ambassador after Fírnen had hatched."

"Very well, Arya. I swear that I am not going fail your trust. I expect you to contact me in five weeks at the very latest. Just tell me now; what is the Rider's name?"

Arya gulped. She did not want to add more problematic thoughts on Brom's heavy mind and Eragon's name would definitely be one of those thoughts to ponder about.

"Eragon," she said quietly. To say that happened next surprised would be an understatement. Brom eyes grew wide in shock and something like hope? She could not decipher it further, because in the very next moment Brom's face disappeared as the Rider severed the connection.

_That was very strange, _she thought loudly.

_Let us go to the city, Arya. I'm tired and you are surely too, _said Fírnen and Arya obeyed for once.

* * *

**ERAGON**

Eragon was bored again. Two days passed since the horrendous events of the Council and Eragon more than hated the idea of full month of waiting. It had become even worse when Arya left to complete a task which was assigned to her by the King, because she was the only person who at least spoke to him.

He knew that she would be gone for at least two or three more days, so he was more than surprised when he heard someone knocking on the door of the tree house. He opened the door and found himself staring at the tall figure of King Evandar himself.

Eragon immediately commenced the now familiar greeting, but he was stopped.

"I tire of these old fashioned greetings," announced Evandar, "I think they are pointless to use in private and I hope that you, as an outsider, have the same opinion."

"If you insist, Evandar Könungr," replied Eragon, but was stopped again.

"Just Evandar, Eragon. You will once become the Lord Rider and your position will be higher than mine. I hope that we can ignore formalities in private, because we will soon need to work together as friends more than anything else.

"Very well,… Evandar," said Eragon and beckoned him to walk inside, but Evandar remained standing in front of the door.

"I suspect that you are probably quite bored and I think I have found something for you to do. If you would follow me," said Evandar and started descending the staircase. Eragon hurriedly put the trainers which still were the only shoes he had and followed him.

Eragon caught him under the stairs waiting for him. Saphira was somewhere trying to hunt without Fírnen's help, but Eragon could still feel her mind as their connection was getting stronger every day.

"You are going to leave the forest in month time. The world outside is dangerous, even in the lands which are allied to us. I thought that I could teach the basics of the swordsmanship. I know that your training should be provided entirely by Brom, but I think that I can provide more than acceptable services in this aspect. I think that Brom will understand and he will probably be even thankful. We don't want you running out there without any means protection and it will allow Brom to focus on the more important aspects of your training," Evandar announced after he started walking along one of the many pathways.

"That would be great," exclaimed Eragon, forgetting that he was speaking with a several hundred years old elf, "Why are you doing this? You surely could have sent some sword master to teach me."

"Beside the fact that I have nothing to do now and the fact that there is no one better in whole Du Weldenvarden who could teach you, I yearned to talk with someone who is not a stiff elven Lord," Eragon wondered how this man could ever accept the position of the King. He seemed to dislike the royal procedures more than anything else.

"Great, I thought I was going to rot in that house forever."

Evandar laughed, "I sometimes feel the same about this forest. I loved the plains around Ilirea, which Galbatorix renamed to Uru'baen, and the sight of the sea in Teirm," the King's eyes grew distant as he remembered those places Eragon knew nothing about.

"May I have a question?" asked Eragon and Evandar nodded.

"Why did you withdrawn from Ilirea? I may know nothing of elven abilities yet, but to me it seems that combined forces of Rider and elves could have won," Eragon hoped that his question would not hurt elf's pride.

"To this day I sometimes feel the same," answered Evandar and Eragon could hear honesty in his voice, "But to unify our forces provided to be an impossible challenge. The Riders were disunited. After centuries of peace, many grew lazy and they were focused solely on their personal tasks. The Forsworn fought as one and with every killed Rider they grew stronger. Why I cannot tell you now. And the elves," he sighed, "My younger brother was murdered by Morzan that fateful day and Islandazí's two sisters perished too, along many other family members of the Court members. They talked me into retreating and I accepted it in the apathy after the loss of my brother. In the moment we left our position everything was lost. And we run away like cowards.

Because of that day the Queen is so reluctant to let Arya leave the forest and officially join the campaign as the Rider. When Arya many years ago expressed her desire to take on the position of elven ambassador with the Varden, the two got into an argument and the wounds from it never completely healed. And because of that day I am happy that the things are finally starting to get into the motion, because I still feel guilt about the whole outcome."

It shocked Eragon that Evandar was taking the blame on himself.

"Surely you cannot blame yourself for the outcome, Evandar. If everything you told me is true, there was no way to stop Galbatorix," Eragon tried to reassure him, not noticing the fact that a nineteen year old man was trying to talk sense into an old elf.

"Maybe no, maybe yes, but I still feel that I could have done something differently. But let us ignore those thoughts for now. I think this clearing is going to be perfect for our purpose."

Eragon looked around and noticed that they were standing in an averagely sized clearing where the ground was solid and hard, covered by some short specie of grass.

Eragon heard a sound of blade sliding out of the scabbard and noticed that Evandar now held a silver blade in his left hand.

"I brought this sword from the royal armory. The Riders of old had typically their own swords which were of the same color as the scales of their dragons, but those swords are unobtainable for us now. This sword is however the closest to the quality of Rider's sword as it could get," he tossed the sword towards Eragon who caught it by the blade and dropped it when realized what he had done.

Evandar laughed as he probably expected this outcome.

"The edges of the sword are blunted by the spell for now. I don't want to slice you into pieces. Now grab the blade and attack me. I will determine what style would be the best for you."

Eragon grabbed the long, but thin blade in both hands and immediately proceeded to slash wildly at Evandar who held his own blade leisurely by his side.

Eragon's swing was blocked in the moment he thought he would land a hit. He gasped at the King's speed, but attacked him ferociously again.

Ten minutes later Eragon was leaning against the blade which was thrust into ground with both hands on the pommel of the sword and he was breathing heavily.

Evandar stood few meters away from him with an amused grin plastered all over his fair face.

"You definitely have a talent, although it is very, very raw. You seem totally exhausted so it will be best for us to end today's lesson now. The stamina will come with time and the techniques which I will teach you will help you to preserve your energy. No wonder you are not far from collapsing after those wild swings of yours."

Eragon looked at the elf that was standing there leisurely, as if he had been resting all day long.

"I don't understand. I know that you have years of experience on me, but you barely broke a sweat," said Eragon in frustrated tone.

"Those are the benefits of being an elf. As you have heard before, our race has been changed after the pact with the dragons was made. Their magic is flowing through our veins and it affects our minds and our bodies. As that an average elf is much stronger, faster, and flexible and has higher stamina than an average human. Also every elf is capable of magic, which is not the case with the human race," Evandar explained.

"So, as I understand it, I will never be able to beat you," replied Eragon and his frustration started growing.

"If you would have been a normal human, then I would have to say yes. You are luckily a Rider. The dragon magic will start affecting you too and you will develop the traits similar to those of an elf. However this process will last several years, so you'll have to wait long time before you beat your first elf."

"And how am I supposed to beat Galbatorix?" growled Eragon.

"You said it yourself; the heart and will are your most important assets. Others will come," Evandar tried to encourage him, but Eragon had hard time believing him.

"Take your sword," Evandar threw the scabbard at Eragon which nearly hit him in the face, "It is yours now. It has no name, but you can think about something. I suspect this sword will not last with you long, because Brom might still carry some real Rider's sword."

Eragon finally straightened his posture although he was still exhausted.

"Do you remember the way back to your house?" asked Evandar. Eragon nodded.

"Very well, come to this clearing tomorrow at the same time as today. We will proceed with these lessons until the time of your departure comes," said Evandar, turned around and disappeared from the clearing.

Eragon began making his way back. He shook his head again at the impossibility of beating an elf. It frustrated him to no end that he was so weak in comparison to elves, not even talking about Galbatorix. Eragon suspected that the deal was the same with the elven women. The vision of Arya beating him easily in combat made him want to punch something.

_Sooth your mind, Little One, _Saphira's voice suddenly appeared in his head. Only now he noticed how much he missed her for those few hours he had been away, _You will eventually grow just as strong if not stronger as the strongest of the elves. And don't forget that you have. _

_Yes, a weak Rider and his fearsome hatchling. What a pair we make, _he growled in frustration as he neared his tree.

Saphira sent him a laugh, _I will be big sooner than you would expect and then nothing will be able to stand in our way as long as we remain together, Little One._

Eragon climbed the staircase swiftly and opened the door to the house. He walked directly into the room with the cushioned depression and saw that Saphira had been resting there.

_And that we would Saphira, _said Eragon as he sat beside the partner of his mind and heart and began to rub her snout, _That we would. _


	7. Celebrations

******Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Christopher Paolini.**

* * *

**ARYA**

_Fírnen, __fly me down to the Tialdarí Hall. I have to report to my father about the result of our mission, _requested Arya her green partner. It had been another two days since her conversation with Brom and they finally returned to Ellesméra. The sun was starting to set already and Arya wanted to finish her task as soon as possible.

_As you wish, _answered Fírnen swiftly and angled his long body towards the large clearing beneath them. He landed with ease and Arya gracefully jumped down from the saddle. After stretching her muscles, she quickly made her way to the Throne Room where she expected to find her father. However only her mother was present, talking to two Ladies about something Arya surely was not interested to hear about.

Arya stopped in front of her mother and proceeded with the elven greeting.

"_Atra esterní ono thelduin_."

"_Mor'ranr lífa unin hjarta onr_," replied Islandazí with a small smile on her face. She, unlike her mate, always enjoyed the royal processes.

"_Un du evarínya ono varda_," finished Arya swiftly, eager to move onto her question. The two women bowed to their Queen and left them to their privacy.

"Mother, do you happen to know where father might be? I wish to report to him before I retire for the night to get some rest."

Islandazí frowned as she was probably thinking that her daughter wanted to talk with her after she had not seen her for four days.

"He is not anywhere in the Hall to my knowledge. But he spent the last few late afternoons with Eragon Shur'tugal so I assume he is probably somewhere with the Rider."

Arya nodded and after moment of contemplation she stepped closer to her mother and hugged her lightly.

"Why are you doing this, Arya?" said Islandazí and Arya stiffened. She expected her mother to be happy with Arya being more open towards her.

"I thought you might have missed me those few days I was gone, mother," Arya explained and her mother finally returned the hug.

"Of course I have missed you, daughter. I just did not expect this gesture from you. You have grown distant from me," replied Islandazí.

Arya sighed, "I know. It's just… so much has happened these past few months. I have gained new responsibilities. You cannot hold a protective hand over me forever, mother."

"But you are my only child, Arya. You cannot expect from me to not being protective of you," Islandazí released her from the hug.

"I know. But father lets me do as I want," argued Arya.

"Father," Islandazí rolled her eyes, "Father is blinded by his revenge against Galbatorix, because his chances are now on all-time high. Why do you think he is so eager to sending you to the Varden? Why do you think he spent so much time with the Rider in those last few days?"

Arya shook her head, "That's not true mother, and you know it. Father would not act so recklessly," she sighed and stepped back, "I should go to find him, mother. I shall see you soon."

Arya saw a pang of regret in Islandazí's eyes, but her mother only nodded and left her to speak with another pair of elven Lords. Arya turned around to go back out of the Throne Room and reached out with her mind to Fírnen.

_Can you contact Saphira, Fírnen? If father is really with Eragon, she might know where they are now, _Fírnen growled in agreement and answered her a minute later.

_They are in the clearing not so far away from your position according to Saphira. Search my thoughts and you will find a way there; _Arya did as Fírnen said and asked about his whereabouts.

_I am going to see Saphira. She wants to show me her latest kill, _answered Fírnen and Arya knew that he was proud about his teaching skills.

_You dragons and your kills, _she teased him.

_You should try it sometimes; it would make your muscles stronger and that will make you also faster._

_My muscles are strong. I am an elf after all, _Arya replied.

_They could be stronger, _hinted Fírnen.

_Probably not, enjoy your time with Saphira, _Arya tried to end the conversation she had gotten herself into.

_I think I should speak with you more on this theme in future, Greenleaf, _said Fírnen while laughing and reduced their link to a mere awareness of each other's mind.

Arya started to make her way towards the clearing where her father was supposed to be. She was soon walking on a nice, narrow road surrounded by bushes and high trees. Many beautiful flowers bloomed around her, because the parts of the forest in and around Ellesméra had always been the richest of all places in Alagaësia. Arya loved these routes, maybe even more than the gardens in Tialdarí Hall which sometimes were too perfect for her liking, because of the never ending singing to the flowers by elves who visited them.

The forest was just like her, wild and emotional, although her mother would strongly disagree with these characterizations of her. With her acute hearing she could hear birds singing in the trees and the bigger forest beasts making their way to their shelters and dens for the night.

Arya neared the clearing her father and Eragon were supposed to be. She could now hear a clanking of steel against steel and she picked up her pace, not knowing what to exactly expect.

Arya arrived to the edge of the clearing and from there she could saw her father sparring with Eragon. It surprised her, although it made sense to teach Eragon at least basics of swordplay prior to their dangerous journey to the Varden. Still here father could have assigned another elf to this task. She chose to remain at the edge and observe the pair for a second.

She observed her father who seemed much more relaxed than he had been for past few months during which the endless quarrels in the Court started to take their toll on him. Now his face wore a small smile as he gracefully dodged or parried every Eragon's attack with typical elven speed and grace.

Arya then focused on Eragon. Although her father was constantly pointing out Eragon's mistakes, she saw that the young Rider definitely had a talent and the way he was relentlessly attacking showed his great determination to land at least one hit on Evandar. She knew that that was definitely not going to happen. She also noticed that someone finally gave Eragon new shoes.

But something captured Arya's attention. Although still slow and weak when compared to an elf, when executed with good technique, Eragon's blows were faster and more forceful than those of any other human Arya had ever seen during her years with the Varden. He was still no match for her father, but his physical abilities were definitely above those of an above average human. She did not know what to make out of it. Had his bond with Saphira already started affecting him? That did not seem possible; they had been bonded only for a two weeks.

Arya decided to show herself to the two men, not wanting to ponder over these thoughts any longer. The mysteries surrounding Eragon were not her task to solve.

Arya walked out of the shadows of the trees into the clearing which was being warmed by the last sun rays of the day. Her father immediately sensed her and turned around. She saw him smile as he came to her and embraced her tightly.

"Daughter, I hope your journey went well."

"We did not encounter any problems, father. I would like to report to you before I retire for a night," replied Arya.

"Of course," Evandar turned to Eragon who meanwhile came to stand by their side, "Eragon, I think we are done for today. You are improving on a steady pace. But you should stay and listen to what Arya has to say."

Eragon nodded, "Of course, Evandar," he then turned to her and bowed his head slightly, "Dröttningu."

Arya was surprised. She did not expect Eragon to call her father by name. It now seemed strange to her when he kept a semi-formal approach while speaking to her while interacting with her father as with a friend. She had told him before to ignore the traditional greeting, but she did not go any further. She decided to solve this dilemma later.

"I've successfully contacted Brom two days after my departure," she started, "After hearing the news he promised that he would leave immediately so I assume he is already on his way to Farthen Dûr."

"Those are surely great news. Did you tell him the details?"

Arya looked down ashamed, "His wit is just as strong as ever. It took him five seconds to get almost all information out of me," she said in dejected voice, but her father only laughed.

"Same old Brom. I swore that this man is the most cunning person to ever walk Alagaësia. "

"Still, I failed your orders."

"Many other have too. Do not think lesser of yourself, daughter. Even Oromis-elda would have a hard time withholding anything from Brom."

Arya nodded, "He expects to arrive to Farthen Dûr in a month so we would be able to contact him and Ajihad about the details of our arrival in the moment we leave the forest."

"Those are great news. I am sure that _Vinr-Alfakyn_ is eager to meet our Riders as soon as possible," stated her father. Eragon coughed beside them and both turned their heads to him.

"Just, what does _Vinr-Alfakyn_ mean?" he asked unsurely. Arya had to surpass a laugh at his insecurity.

"Elf-friend," she replied with a slight smile.

"Oh."

"If you two are done with a language lesson," said Evandar with a smirk, "I suggest that we retire for a night. The official celebration of our new Rider will be held tomorrow."

"Eragon I will have a ceremony clothes sent to you in the morning. Arya will pick you up before the sunset from your house, because the celebration will not be held in Tialdarí Hall."

"Of course," said Eragon, "I am going to retire now. Evandar, Dröttningu," Eragon bowed his head slightly towards her again and then left the clearing swiftly.

Arya remained still until Eragon's silhouette disappeared from her sight.

"You two seem like old friends," she pointed out to her father.

"Eragon is a clever, young man. It seems that the art of philosophy was very well developed in his world and he still somehow remembers much of those ideas from the books he read. He brings in a different perspective for someone like me. I really cannot have many friends thanks to my position, but he is equal to me in that and his difference simply refreshes my thoughts," stated Evandar and Arya was surprised that her father had taken such a strong liking of the young Rider.

"I noticed something about him when I was watching you two sparring," mentioned Arya, "He moves faster than any human I have seen during my tenure with the Varden."

Evandar nodded, "I noticed that too, but I did not tell him, because I have no idea why or how are his physical capabilities enhanced. He is not even in the best physical condition. But it definitely gives us at least slight advantage."

"Also, when I told Brom Eragon's name, he reacted very strangely. He seemed shocked and closed the connection a second later. I am not sure what to make out of it," announced Arya.

"I think that Brom's problem to solve. Although I will inform Oromis-elda about it. It might relate to Eragon's strange arrival," Evandar paused, "Come now, we should go. I am sure your mother needs you to get a measure for your celebration dress."

"I am not going in dress," Arya groaned, "I thought she would learn about my hatred for them by now."

Her father laughed, "I don't think you are getting out of it this time."

* * *

**ERAGON**

_This looks pretty expensive, _thought Eragon when he unpacked the bunch of neatly folded clothes which he found in front of the door moments before. He was freshly bathed and ready for a celebration.

_Expensive? _asked Saphira.

_In my old world this would cost a lot of money, _explained Eragon while overlooking the dress, although he was not sure that Saphira understood the concept of paying for something. She would most likely took what she wanted from anybody, because she was a dragon.

_And that is right, _she said proudly. Eragon ignored her and focused on the clothes.

The tunic was bright silver with royal blue trimmings which were shaped into contours of flames. Those trimmings were richly decorated by what Eragon thought to be small diamonds. The leggings were black as night with no decoration. Eragon also found a thin belt which was coated in silver and in that silver layer were engraved shapes of which Eragon could not describe. The outfit was accompanied by a black cape which had a fastening in the shape of silver buckle on the right shoulder.

_I am going to look like a prince._

_That would be a sight to behold, _yawned Saphira from her position in the cushioned depression. She was now longer than he was taller and when she raised head a lot she was reaching his waist.

Eragon donned the apparel and checked himself in the mirror.

_I should shave myself, _he commented while running his hand over growing, dark brown stubble. He tried to remember if there was any razor in the house. He would have to ask someone about it although he had never seen elf with a beard.

_I don't think so. You look more majestic, fearsome and also older this way, _said Saphira proudly.

_Really?_ he inquired unbelieving.

_Yes, if you show confidence, the pointy-ears will have to respect you more._

_When did you become so wise? _Eragon asked for a hundredth time since Saphira had started to speak.

_I am a dragon, are you going to ask every time? _Saphira laughed.

_Never mind._

Someone knocked on the door.

_This has to be Arya. I wonder how does she…"_ commented Eragon to Saphira while opening the door, but his thoughts were stopped by the sight which revealed itself in front of him.

Arya wore a simple white gown, but the material was shining and consuming the light around it. There was enough skin showed to send Eragon's heart racing. She had her ebony hair pulled up, but few curled strands were freely falling down on the both sides of her angled face. She wore no accessories, but even without them the image was stunning. Eragon also noticed that her feet were bare.

It was the first time Eragon noticed how beautiful and exotic Arya truly was.

And then he also noticed that a frown which was clearly displayed over her face. He was probably staring for a little too long.

"Arya Svit-Kona," he inclined his head.

"Eragon," she answered in an unemotional voice, "Can we go?"

"Of course," replied Eragon and waited for Saphira to walk out of the house first.

Few minutes later Eragon felt the need to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Arya Svit-Kona, may I ask you a question?"

She nodded without even looking at him walking by her side.

"Why do you seem so tense?"

"I hate dresses," she replied in a second.

"What?" he asked, not entirely sure if his ears had not betrayed him.

"I hate dresses," Arya paused, "Mother always tries to force me into them on those special occasions and she has been successful this time."

Eragon could not surpass a laugh at this seemingly childish behavior. Arya heard it and her head turned to him.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Definitely not," he breathed out, "But surely such a pettiness will not affect your evening."

Arya eyed him as if he was insane, "Well… I suppose you are right," she admitted after a pause. The frown from her face finally disappeared.

"In fact, Fírnen has been telling me this all day long," she continued, "It is just that I am probably more eager than you to finally leave and that moment is still almost a full month away."

"I doubt that you are more eager to leave than me or Saphira. I have no idea how the world outside is, unlike you," stated Eragon.

"Let's say that we are both eager?" offered Arya and Eragon nodded.

"Stop now," said Arya after another minute and Eragon did as she commanded. He raised his eyebrow at her.

"Elven celebrations are very… potent," said Arya with a small lapse, "We sing and dance a lot and our magic mingles with the magic of the forest. The 'lesser' being than an elf might go out of its mind for the time being, because the magic course through air. I will place some magical wards around you, but you will still be able to experience the celebration in a way you will never forget."

Arya proceeded to cast the wards around him, but Eragon still was not fond of being open to for him unknown magical effects.

Eragon was staring at the giant tree in front of him. It easily filled his whole view. Even Vrael's tree house seemed small in comparison to this behemoth. Eragon could not tell which kind of tree it was, because the sheer monstrosity of it was absorbing all the details. The roots which were digging to the ground were taller than him and Eragon estimated that it would take at least thirty elves to embrace the trunk. Directly in front of him, under the tree between two roots was a quite a large place where the celebration seemed to be held. Eragon could feel the immense power emanating from the tree and he was for some reason sure that the tree had a consciousness.

"Behold the Menoa Tree," whispered Arya by his side, "She is the center of the forest. The mother, the guardian of all life in Du Weldenvarden."

Eragon remained speechless for a moment, "She?" he inquired.

"Yes. Shall I tell you the story of the Menoa Tree?" offered Arya.

"If you would be so kind."

"We still have some time…," said Arya and was interrupted by a flash of white which streaked across the sky. The bird flew low over them and shrieked out something which seemed like a word to Eragon but he could not decipher it. He saw Arya frown at the bird that was now flying towards the Menoa Tree.

"What was it?"

"That was Blagden, the raven of the King. He once saved my father in the battle and father took him to Ellesméra and blessed him with long life and intelligence. He mainly talks nonsense, but sometimes he is able to see into the future," explained Arya.

"What did he say?" asked Eragon.

"I did not understand him clearly," said Arya in an overconfident tone and tried to change the theme, "Back to the story."

"Once, before the war with the dragons, there lived a woman, Linnëa. The elves were mortal in that time and Linnëa grew old without a mate, as elves do not marry, or children. She instead devoted her life to singing to plants and flowers. But then a young man came and beguiled her with the words of love. Linnëa soon fell from him and loved him more than she thought was possible. She deserted her work and they were happy for time."

"But the young man's heart grew weary of much older Linnëa and he found a woman closer to his age. He wooed her and for time they were happy too. When Linnëa discovered this, she felt betrayed. The young man gave her a taste of life she had never wanted, life of love. She found him with a woman and stabbed him to death."

"Linnëa knew that she committed murder and that even if she would have been exonerated, she would never be able to return to her previous life. The taste of a new life was taken away from her again and the life lost all of its joy for her. So she went to the oldest tree in Du Weldenvarden and sang herself into the tree. She became the one with the plants she loved so much and has been looking over the forest ever since," finished Arya the tale.

"So Linnëa is still the one with the tree?" asked Eragon with a newfound respect for the ancient being.

"Yes and she will be there for as long as the forest exists. Many elves believe that if Galbatorix attacked Du Weldenvarden, the Menoa Tree would be able to stop him," said Arya, but the look in her eyes told Eragon that she was not one of those elves.

"That story is quite terrible," commented Eragon after a moment.

"The version you heard was much shortened. But you are right. What the young man did was terrible for Linnëa."

"I think she could have expected that outcome," replied Eragon, "And she overreacted."

"The young man should never woe someone so much older than him in the first place," countered Arya.

"They were both at fault," finished Eragon and looked straight into Arya's emerald eyes. He could tell that she had hard time agreeing with him, but she remained silent. Blagden flew over them again and Eragon was sure that he heard something which sounded like '_Wyrda_!', but he did not know what it meant.

"Come now, the celebration will be commenced soon," Arya beckoned to him and he followed her to the table which was closest to the trunk of the tree. Eragon saw Fírnen and Glaedr lying at the side of the party and Saphira decided to join them. She was eager to speak with Glaedr for the first time.

Arya directed Eragon to his place by the long table. The King and Queen were sitting at the head of the table. To King's right hand was sitting Oromis and beside him Eragon. To Queen's left was sitting, the elven Lord and royal advisor, Däthedr and beside him Arya. The rest of the table was occupied by the rest of high ranked elves.

When Eragon looked to his right, it seemed to him that the entire population of Ellesméra made its way to the celebration. Few hundred elves were present and some of them were very eager to start. In fact, Eragon saw that in the back of the clearing the dancing had already started.

The King stood and the entire clearing went silent.

"Let us celebrate the arrival of the new member of the Order of Riders," started Evandar in a loud voice which had to be somehow amplified for the entire crowd to hear, "Few months ago, we celebrated the first of the New Order, my own daughter Arya. We called her as our hope. Let me call the new Rider and Dragon, Eragon Shur'tugal and Saphira Bjartskular, as our chance."

The elves cheered loudly and the celebration began with another word from the King. Eragon meanwhile pondered over the meaning of the word _Bjartskular_.

Eragon then noticed that the table was full of meal and drink. Vegetarian food only of course. That was the other reason why Eragon wanted to leave as soon as possible. He needed meat and he hoped that the humans and the dwarves did not hold the same diet as the elves. He was however hungry so he assaulted the first salad he saw. No one seemed to be interested in a conversation with him so he contently ate for some time before Oromis turned to him.

"So Eragon, how are you enjoying your time here in Ellesméra?" the elder elf asked.

"It is probably the most beautiful and peaceful place I have ever visited…, but I am eager to leave. The life here is very… slow and my mind is still humanly fast."

"This is to be understood. However I require you to come back as soon as Brom is done with your training. I am going to train you then and I am not sure we have enough time for that process," said Oromis, his eyes betraying nothing.

"What do you mean, Oromis-elda?" asked Eragon.

"My illness affects me. I am growing weaker every day. We still have some time, but this state cannot last forever."

"I am sorry," said Eragon sincerely.

"Don't be. Focus on your training instead and come back as soon as you can. Arya too of course, her training if far from being over."

"I promise, Oromis-elda."

"Very well," the Rider paused, "Did you taste this drink already? It is called _faelnirv _," he poured the golden liquid to Eragon's goblet.

Eragon drank a little. It tasted like a strange, but pleasant kind of whiskey to him. So he drank a little bit more. After twenty minutes he was finishing the fourth round.

"Now go and enjoy yourself," laughed Oromis from somewhere beside him, but Eragon was not sure of his position in the world anymore. The alcohol in the drink combined with the magic in the air and Eragon soon found himself dancing with the other elves to their wild tunes. The world around him was blurred and Eragon was more carried around by his momentum than by actual movement of his limbs. His mind was confused and it affected his memories so much that he could hardly later remember the happenings of the night.

Eragon however remembered clearly that he spent considerable amount of time dancing with the green eyes of certain elven princess.


	8. Leaving

******Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Christopher Paolini.**

* * *

**ERAGON**

The effects of alcohol seemed to be unaffected by the magic. Precisely, there were definitely no _positive _influences of the magic on the amount of alcohol which was still coursing through Eragon's veins. It seemed to him that hangovers in Alagaësia were even worse than those in his home world. It would be enough for him to just drink that devilish liquid, _faelnirv_, but with the added effects of magic in combination with constant dancing, this was the worst morning of Eragon's life.

Every muscle of his body burned with pain and exuded incredible numbness and tiredness at the same time. His head felt like it was pierced by shards of glass over and over again. He would not be able to even think if there was not his connection to Saphira's mind which was luckily completely sober.

Eragon groaned.

_Where the hell am I? _he sent his question to Saphira through their mental link, because he was too tired to voice it through his mouth.

_In your bed, _came Saphira's swift reply. If Eragon were not absolutely numb he could felt her amusement at his situation.

Eragon tried to focus on the nerves in his face and really; he was lying on something soft which had to be his bed.

_How did I get here? _he asked after a long moment of summarizing his thoughts.

_Do you want me to be honest or shall I ignore how you embarrassed yourself in front of all pointy-ears? _

Eragon wanted to just disappear. Why had he had to get himself drunk in front of the elven court?

_What did I do? _he groaned.

_Well, you were dancing quite wildly with emerald-eyes-Fírnen's-Rider for some time. She also drank a lot, but not as much as you. Then you simply fell unconscious while holding her and dragged her to the ground. Her dress has not been white anymore, _Saphira laughed ironically.

Of course he had to embarrass himself in front of her. And surely the King and the Queen saw it too. And all of the Lords and Ladies witnessed it probably too.

Eragon opened his eyes and the sun immediately attacked his retinas. He shutted his eyes in pain and opened them slowly again, patiently becoming more and more adapted to the sun rays. He then sat up and after a minute of blunder he looked over to Saphira.

_How did I get into the bed? _asked Eragon.

_I am not sure, some elves probably carried you there after you passed out, _replied Saphira and looked out of the window. Eragon then noticed something about her and he felt pretty stupid for not noticing it before.

_Saphira?_

_Yes?_

_Is my brain still deceiving me or are you flying?_ Asked Eragon unsurely, because in front of him he saw Saphira clumsily levitating with her wings hardly managing to hold her in the air. Thanks to her already pretty long wingspan she barely fitted into the small bedroom without scraping the walls.

Saphira lowered her head and looked to the right at first and then to the left.

_I AM FLYING! _Saphira yelled in his mind and with that her wings gave up for her and she crashed on the floor.

_Not anymore, _laughed Eragon.

_You will be begging me to let you fly with me as soon as my abilities get better, _she replied in a pretended serious tone while she was collecting herself from her fall.

_Sure, although I doubt that those wings will ever be able to hold you in the air for more than a minute, _Eragon teased her.

_At least I do not smell like you do after last night, _growled back Saphira a nonsense argument.

Eragon stood up, noticing that he however really had to get a bath.

_We can debate about that too. I will have to ask Arya how to clean dragon teeth, _he said while walking towards the small bath alcove.

_I am a dragon. My mouth-spikes are strong. They will not break or get stained, _replied Saphira proudly.

_But the flesh from your meals gets stucked in-between your teeth sometimes and it does not make a favor to your breath, _replied Eragon sarcastically while settling himself into the bath tub. He was glad that the elves somehow managed to create a water temperature regulator, probably by the use of magic.

_Like I care, _huffed Saphira.

Eragon groaned, _I give up. It's pointless to argue with someone as stubborn and proud as you, or probably any other dragon for that matter._

_You are quite right, although you forgot to mention also "someone as wise as you", _replied Saphira in a half-proud, half-joking tone.

Eragon just shook his head. He stepped out of the bath tub and dried himself with a soft, white towel. Everything in Ellesméra was so soft that it was seriously starting to _piss _him off. That eager he was to finally leave.

_Why am I so impatient? It is not like that I have ever been an active person._

_It is because they have placed their big expectations and desired goals in front of you in one moment and now we are forced to wait, _resounded Saphira's deep voice in his head.

_You are probably right, _answered Eragon as he proceeded to dress himself in casual clothes. He also stripped the sword-belt to his waist as he became accustomed to do so in the last few days.

_So what is on our to-do list today? _asked Eragon without expecting an actual answer. Saphira however surprised him.

_We can visit Emerald Eyes and green-big-Fírnen. He might give me some flying tips and you can meanwhile speak with Emerald Eyes and perhaps… explain your behavior from yesterday, _Saphira chuckled.

Eragon coughed, _You told me she drank a lot too. Perhaps she does not remember my antics._

_Elves are more resistant to magic and also probably to alcohol. And Fírnen surely remembers everything, _replied Saphira.

Eragon was thankful that no one was in the room with him to see him blushing. Although he knew that he would probably blush again soon – while speaking with Arya.

* * *

Arya's tree house was quite similar to his an outside appearance, although the tree was not as tall. The staircase was grown naturally into the trunk of the tree and the door to the house held the similar carvings as those in his house. This door was inviting him to knock on them, but Eragon was remaining quite resistant against the idea.

_Do not elves consider it rude to just knock on someone's door? I still know almost nothing of their customs, _he voiced his worries to Saphira.

_And how else would you want to inform her about a visit? That would not make any sense at all._

_Perhaps they aren't even inside now, _tried Eragon.

_Common Little One, you know she is in there and that you should talk to her, _Saphira sounded very much a like parent scolding a child.

Eragon grumbled, but proceeded to knock on the door. The sound if his knuckles meeting the wood was immediately met by a voice coming from the inside.

"_Iknol er älfronn_?" Eragon barely heard Arya speaking in Ancient Language.

"See, Saphira?" he voiced his thoughts aloud to the dragon standing beside him, "I cannot even understand her?"

"Eragon?" was heard Arya's muffled voice again.

"Um, yes," he almost shouted. The door opened in a moment and revealed Arya in a simple, sleeveless white shirt and short pants. Some smell reached Eragon's nose, but he could not place it, although his brain was telling him that he encountered it before. The smell had definitely something to do with pines.

"Do you need something, Eragon?" asked Arya meanwhile.

"Ehm, Saphira wanted to visit Fírnen. She flew for the first time this morning and she probably needs some advice," said uncertainly and casted his eyes down Saphira whose maw wore something which could have been described as an amused smile.

For that he did not see a smile venturing into Arya's face.

"Those are great news again, Bjartskular, the sky has been surely waiting for another majestic member of your race," said Arya, "I will wake up Fírnen. He has taken liking of an additional morning nap in the last few weeks," she stepped back into the house without another word.

Eragon was left unsure what to do. He decided to wait for her to come out again, but Saphira had a different idea.

_Come in, Little One._

_I am not going in without an invitation, _replied Eragon.

Saphira laughed in his mind, _If you weren't silly, Little One, and held your gaze up, you would notice that Arya beckoned to us with her hand._

_Really? _asked Eragon.

_Yes, _replied Saphira, _Now come, we don't want her to think that we are weird, do we? _Finished Saphira and walked proudly into the house. Eragon followed her shaking his head.

The layout of Arya's tree house was quite similar to the one of his. He could see that the kitchen was placed in the right side opposite to the left side in his house. He did not spot any door leading to the study so he assumed that they were placed somewhere else.

Eragon could however see that Arya has been living in this house for quite some time now. Even in the entrance hall he could spot the marks of personal decoration. The vases with flowers he did not know were standing on a small closet under the window and in the entries to the other rooms were hanging dark purple curtains.

Eragon followed Saphira to the room with the cushioned depression in the floor and noticed that Arya was still trying to wake up the huge, green mass called Fírnen. He could see smoke tendrils rising from his nose holes, but the big dragon seemed quite content with his current state. Although Arya said that this did not happen for a first time, she seemed to have no idea how to wake him.

Saphira however had different thoughts. She walked straight to Fírnen's snout and bit him in the place where his scales were very thin. Fírnen's eyelids immediately opened and showed his golden irises.

Fírnen clearly did not like being awoken in such a way as he stood groggily up on his heavy muscled legs and lashed his tail in a wild swing which almost beheaded Eragon who luckily dropped to his knees before he got hit by the spiked extension of Fírnen's body. Fírnen growled loudly.

_Who dares to wake me? _resounded his deep voice in their heads.

"Fírnen, what were you dreaming about this time?" asked Arya aloud, unperturbed by her partner's behavior. Fírnen blinked twice before finally coming to his bearings.

_Oh, nothing, nothing at all, _came his swift reply, _So why have you awoken me?_

"That would be us," Eragon cut into their conversation, "Saphira needs some flying tips."

_Tips?_

Eragon sighed at the everlasting speech barriers, _Advices, _he corrected.

_Of course, I will be overjoyed to fly with someone of my kind. Glaedr-elda, with an utmost respect, is not the most pleasant companion. Come Saphira, _said Fírnen and started making his way to the tear drop hole in the wall.

"That is quite high, isn't it?" asked Eragon who did not like the idea of Saphira falling from the tree to her death.

_The wild hatchlings of old were taught how to fly this way, _replied Fírnen simply and pushed Saphira, who meanwhile came to stood beside him, out of the portal.

Eragon yelled in panic, but Fírnen ignored him and jumped after Saphira. Eragon ran to the hole in the wall, but when he arrived he saw Saphira flying safely beside Fírnen, although he could say she was struggling.

_How is it, Saphira? _Eragon sent her a question.

_Fantastic, Little One. You non-winged-two-legs lose a lot by being non-winged. I cannot wait for you to enjoy this with me, _was her enthusiastic reply.

_I cannot wait for it too. Stay safe, Saphira, _replied Eragon and reduced their connection.

Eragon went out of his blank state and noticed Arya watching him. He briefly glanced over her whole figure and had to fight with a blush making its way to his face. Elves really did not have the highest sense of modesty. He could vaguely remember this from his observations at the celebration and Arya was now confirming it for him with her quite revealing outfit. He noticed that she was probably waiting for him to speak so he moved onto the second reason of his visit.

"There is also another reason for our visit," announced Eragon. Arya slightly nodded her head and remained silent.

"I want to apologize for my behavior yesterday," Eragon started, "From what Saphira told me, I understand that I did not handle the drinking well and created some embarrassing situations for myself and also for you," he finished in a sincere tone.

Arya's face remained passive for what seemed to Eragon like a quite long moment. Then she nodded again.

"That was to be expected. As I said the wards were not been able to guard you from all of the magic and the _faelnirv_ which was served yesterday was an especially strong version. I have actually become quite intoxicated myself, so you are not the only who was at fault," explained Arya's musical voice. Although she was taking a part of blame on herself, she seemed quite amused over Eragon's behavior.

The silence spread over the room and it seemed that neither of them knew how to continue in the conversation. Eragon was going to excuse himself and leave, but it was Arya who spoke first.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" she asked.

"I suppose that, um-yes," Eragon stuttered out and followed Arya to the kitchen. There were four chairs around small, richly carved table which was growing up straight out of the floor. A vase with flowers was again standing on it. There was a cupboard to the side, quite similar to the one in his house, and a fireplace on the other side.

Arya boiled water with a magic. While she was doing it, Eragon noticed a contour of a tattoo on her left shoulder.

Eragon was soon sitting in one of the cushioned chairs with a warm cup of tea in his long fingers. Arya left the cup on the table and sat down with a long scroll instead. She seemingly completely forgot that Eragon was still sitting opposite to her.

Eragon started slowly sipping on the hot tea. The taste was unknown to him, but it tasted great. He had no idea what to do so he was just focusing on drinking the tea without burning his tongue. But he could not help it and had to occasionally glance at Arya's calmly sitting figure. Her ebony hair, the dangerously low neckline… what the hell was she expecting from him? He wanted to say something and leave when she finally put the scroll away and spoke.

"So, are you going to meet my father today?" she asked.

"I suppose that I do. Why are you asking?" Eragon replied.

"I am planning on paying you a visit. I did not spar with anyone for some time."

_In other words, she wants to embarrass me for some reason, _thought Eragon.

_Common, Little One, _Saphira surprisingly answered, _You did not exactly give her looks of believing in her abilities when you first met her. Maybe she just wants to prove herself to you._

_Why would she want to prove herself to me, of all the people? _he asked.

_Because you are going to be partners in war. She wants to show you that you can count on her. And you should, because in my not-too-humble opinion, you are inferior to her in every skill, _laughed Saphira.

_Very amusing, _answered Eragon dejectedly.

_I did not mean it like that, Little One. You will surely match her in time. Don't forget about me. Now turn your attention back to Arya, she seemingly do not like being ignored like that, _finished Saphira and when Eragon came back to his bearings, he really saw Arya wearing a small frown on her face. That perfect face…

"I am sorry for ignoring you, Arya Svit-Kona. I talked to Saphira," Eragon saw her nod slowly again. It seemed to be a trait of hers.

"I have no problem with you coming to spar with us. Same time, same place," he stated.

"Very well," she bent forwards to grab her cup and Eragon had to avert his gaze again. Arya downed the rest of the tea and stood up. Eragon took as a signal to leave and he was quite glad about that since the pants he was wearing were quite tight around his thighs.

"I shall see you in the afternoon then," Eragon said to her when they walked into the entrance hall. Then he left the house after another nod of hers.

* * *

The day of their departure finally came and Eragon was more than ready to finally get on the road. The excitement was now clearly prevailing over the anxiety of the world outside.

Eragon was standing with Saphira in front of the Tialdarí Hall, waiting for the rest of their travelling fellowship.

Saphira was now taller than him in the shoulders and when she raised her head high, as she often did, Eragon had to tilt back quite a lot to gaze into her eyes. She was also at least twenty feet long and her wingspan was probably the same. She was of a more slender build than Fírnen or Glaedr and was growing up to the premise of being an exceptional flyer. The gap between her spine spikes behind her shoulders was now more promising and Eragon assumed that it was the place where the saddle would fit in soon.

Eragon ran a hand over the hilt of the elven sword which was strapped to his waist. The sword saw a plenty of use in the last three weeks. Eragon has gotten better, although he was still no match for the elven King, as he was still beating him effortlessly. And he was certainly no match for Arya who had been occasionally visiting their sparring site.

Eragon had no idea why, except for some Saphira's idea, but the elven princess sought to beat him to the ground every time they met in a spar. Where Evandar pointed his mistake out, Arya took advantage of it. When Evandar toned down his elven abilities, Arya was using them to an almost full level. She even broke his ribs few times and instead of apologizing, she described it as a lesson to teach him how to endure a pain.

Otherwise she acted quite normal and that perturbed Eragon even more. When tried to ask her father about her behavior, Evandar just shrugged and waved it off.

Eragon was snapped of his thoughts by an incoming procession. He looked to his right and saw the group of ten elves who were assigned as their guard. Eragon had met with few of them already and they held the same eagerness to participate in war.

Their leader, Blödhgarm, fascinated Eragon the most. While the rest of the elves' appearance was fairly normal, Blödhgarm could have not been more different. His body was covered in a thick, blue fur, his fingers recommended fangs of a wolf and his eyes were yellow as those of an eagle.

Eragon knew that the elves lived in a symbiosis with a nature, but was still very surprised when he met the elf for the first time. He heard the furred elf speaking about his reasons for the transformations being ideals of beauty, but had not really understood it at all.

Eragon waited for the group to approach him and proceeded with elven greetings which grew to be quite an exhausting task, because of their number. Eragon wondered why no elf in the history managed to find some kind of shortage for these situations. When they finished, Blödhgarm spoke to him.

"Have you ever ridden a horse, Shur'tugal?" the male elf asked.

Eragon shook his head and glanced over Blödhgarm furred shoulder and saw a herd of twelve horses. Most of them were white, but there was one black as night.

"In fact it really doesn't matter," continued Blödhgarm, "The elven horse will carry you as long as he wishes to and as long as you behave to him. And you will have enough time to teach yourself to ride before a high pace will be required of us."

"How long are we going to travel, Blödhgarm-vodhr?" asked Eragon, using one of the male honorifics, "I looked at one of the maps from the library, but I still have only a vague idea."

"I am not sure myself, Shur'tugal. Our final destination is not set yet, but it will take roughly ten days to reach the edge of the forest in Ceris."

Eragon nodded and looked at the rest of his guards that were meanwhile fully committed to admiring Saphira's beauty and greatness.

_Don't be jealous, Little One, _huffed Saphira.

_Like I am the one of us for flattery._

_You would be, if you were as great as me._

_Are we going this way again? _asked Eragon with a pretended tiredness in his voice.

_I have to remind you of it sometimes, Little One, _replied Saphira.

_Well, I see someone coming who is still greater than you, _said Eragon as he saw Glaedr's giant body making its way towards the clearing they were standing in. At the same moment the rest of their departure party, consisting of the King with the Queen, the Court and of course Arya and Fírnen, came out of the Tialdarí Hall behind him.

Glaedr landed with a thud and Oromis gracefully descended from the dragon's back. The ancient elf then approached Eragon. Eragon initiated the greeting and then listened to Oromis' advice.

"Be careful on your journey, Eragon-finirael. Galbatorix has eyes everywhere and even those that work for our case on the outside can be his spies," Oromis paused and then continued in lighter tone, "Do not hesitate to ask for help from your guard or Arya. Don't forget that you are a Rider and as that you are above laws. You are free to speak your mind anywhere and you will be considered as an authority in the Varden circles. Make friends, but do not fear to show your power and influence when needed. Train with Brom, for he is wise and cunning, and then come back as soon as you can."

"Thank you for your advices, Oromis-elda," replied Eragon thankfully and bowed his head to the elder elf.

Arya walked briskly to the group of travelers and stood beside Eragon. After a short official farewell, for Arya said her goodbyes before and Eragon had no one to part with, they were ready to depart. Blödhgarm led Eragon to the black horse.

"His name is Quëstnir and he agreed to carry you after plead from the King himself. There is no greater horse in Du Weldenvarden," the elf announced.

"I am honored," said Eragon while gazing straight into the horse's dark eyes. Quëstnir neighed in acceptance after a moment and Eragon mounted him with a small help from Blödhgarm.

It was then when Eragon felt someone else than Saphira entering his mind and recognized King Evandar's presence.

_Watch over my daughter, Eragon Shur'tugal, _were his only words before he left Eragon's mind again. Eragon looked briefly at the elven King and nodded in an assuring manner, although he wondered how he would be able to do as he had been asked.

The rest of the group, including Arya mounted their horses.

"_Fortha,_" yelled Blödhgarm and the procession finally moved on the road which was heading to the east. Quëstnir did not need any control and Eragon had to marvel over the horse's intelligence.

_Simple creature, _commented Saphira on Eragon's thoughts as if she had taken offense from them.

_How is the flying with Fírnen? _replied Eragon with a hint of suggestiveness in his voice and did not receive any reply.

After a few minutes they arrived at the edge of Ellesméra and their ride was interrupted by an anciently looking elf who seemingly materialized out of nowhere.

"This is Gilderien the Wise, Prince of House Miolandra, wielder of the White Flame of Vándil," said Arya who was riding beside him, "He has been the guardian of Ellesméra ever since Du Fyrn Skulblaka and no one has ever entered Ellesméra without his permission. Except for you," she finished with a smirk.

Eragon watched Gilderien with a curiosity, because the elf was stoically standing beside the road glancing over the group without moving a muscle. His gaze moved onto Eragon at last.

"You will be always welcomed in Ellesméra, Eragon Shur'tugal. There is a power within you which even I cannot place, but beware of those who will try to control you," with that the elf disappeared from the road and the party got onto move again with Eragon pondering over Gilderien's last sentence.


	9. Down The River

**Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Christopher Paolini.**

* * *

**ARYA**

The group of travelers left the elven city of Nädindel earlier in the morning and they were on their way to Sílthrim which lay on the shores of Lake Ardwen. It had been five days since their departure from the capital city of Ellesméra. Their travels had been delayed by a quite large grouping of forest animals that had crossed their way two days after the beginning of the journey. The animals were migrating to their summer pastures in north they were accompanied by a few of Arya's kind that wanted to ensure about a calm transition. Arya's group had been asked about letting the animals pass and they had obliged, as they had nowhere to hurry. In the end the pause in their march evolved into the whole day of waiting so they were now slightly behind the schedule.

Arya was glad that they were travelling with the upcoming summer, because it made the life on the road much easier, especially on the dragonback. And that was where Arya was currently sitting with Fírnen's mighty wings flapping slowly beside her. Although the weather was probably too comfortable right now for her liking, for the air around her was so hot that even the wind currents which were flowing against them could not manage to cool her.

For that reason she had to strip out of her leather top and was dressed only in the white, sleeveless undershirt. That shirt she had worn during Eragon's visit in her house. That shirt his gaze had been glued on entire time. Or more specifically it had been glued on the places where the shirt had not been.

And that was a reason for concern for Arya. Because has been the only woman Eragon had been interacting with for some time, there was a possibility of some foolish infatuation blossoming in his heart. There had been few relationships of this kind in the past, but it would of course be catastrophe for Arya. Nobody could afford something like this right now. For that she was glad that they were moving to the Varden where hopefully some human woman would be able to capture his attention.

_But he is immortal. He can't simply mate with a non-pointy-ear female, _remarked Fírnen.

Arya slightly blushed at her partner's choice of words.

_I don't think he has thought about it in this way yet, so he can 'mate' with anyone he wants. And thanks to him being a Rider he will receive a lot of attention from women with the Varden._

_But he will not receive attention only because of his position, will he? _asked Fírnen while sending few of Arya's earlier thoughts about Eragon's good looks back through her mind.

_Shut up, you overgrown lizard. Those were mere few immature thoughts. Or shall I mention Saphira to you? _Arya replied.

With mention of the blue dragoness that was flying beside him, Fírnen dropped good twenty feet in the air before he managed to steady himself again.

_You know nothing of how dragon relationships work, Arya. My-our situation is special, _growled Fírnen seriously.

Arya did not expect that her jest would make him so angry so she remained silent.

_We are nearing Sílthrim, _announced Fírnen passively after few minutes and started descending towards the rest of their party below them.

Ardwen Lake was a nice and calm water reservoir. The eastern part of Du Weldenvarden was surprisingly quite a mountainous area so the nature of the lake more than anything resembled that that of a tarn. It was gathering water from many small streams from the surrounding hills and many of elven kind thought that this was the most lovable and peaceful place in the forest. Sílthrim, in times, even had a higher population than the capital Ellesméra.

The lake itself was calm, but that was not the case for the river which was running from it, Gaena.

That was the reason why Arya decided to take Eragon as her partner on the boat. The light elven boats were made for two passengers and Arya did not trust anybody else, even Blödhgarm, with their most precious possession, even if Eragon said that he had some experience with this kind of travel.

So he was now sitting in front of her with a paddle in his hands trying to inform her about every stone or every other obstacle in their way. Gaena was young and rapid and the maneuvering had to be quick which was provided more by Arya's quick senses and strong arms than by Eragon's sight.

The riverbed was very narrow and filled with sharp rocks which could tear their light boats and took all of Arya's powers to keep them in a course, because Eragon really could not help her much in this situation. She was quite sure that the other boats behind them had similar problems.

The river grew to be even more rapid than Arya expected in few minutes and Arya suddenly contemplated over their plan of using this kind of transportation. She could have at least found out if there had been some heavy rains in the lake area in the last few weeks. Now they had been left at the mercy of a river which behaved quite differently to their expectations with someone who was pretty much useless on the nose of the boat.

Fírnen and Saphira were flying high above them and it would take a long time for the young river being able to accommodate two big dragon bodies. Fírnen was trying to calm Arya's now worried mind, but Arya still was not exactly ecstatic about riding down the river in this state.

"Stroke harder, Eragon," she shouted to make her heard over the noise of the water. She quickly went over some spell variations in her mind, but she did not find any which could really help them without her spending all of her power.

_Be careful, Arya. You are already nearing Köntaira Waterfall, _warned her Fírnen.

Arya sighed. She did not expect them to already be almost at the massive drop in the river. Now she could decipher the distant thundering of the water falling to the abyss. They would need to stop soon. She quickly reached to Blödhgarm's mind and told him about their situation. The furred elf acknowledged her and passed the information to the rest of their group.

The sound that reminded the elven maiden about the nearing water cascade was constantly getting stronger and the loud roar was soon pounding on her sensitive tympanic membrane. The flow of the river got even faster than before. The shores of the river were still very steep and Arya had to wait for the right place to land. She knew that the window for the landing would be small and that she would need a perfect execution.

Arya could already see the foaming water at the edge of the riverbed. She would have to land soon. She tried to maneuver the boat to the right shore, but the strong current did not allow her to do so.

"_Barzul. _Eragon, counter!" Arya commanded loudly and started doing the same motion. Eragon added his strength, but the current was still moving them forward. Although Arya's was doing the counter paddling motion roughly five times faster than Eragon, her elven strength has been left useless, because she had no fixed point to prop up against.

_Fírnen, we need some kind of help, _Arya reached out to her dragon.

_We are on our way, _replied Fírnen without a hint of concern in his voice. He probably thought that after their fall, which now seemed inevitable, they would simply spread their non-existent wings and fly away.

Arya swiftly glanced back at the rest of their company and she saw them all landing. Blödhgarm was already running along the shore, but she could not think of any way in which he could possible help. The river was already too wide and the current too strong.

Both passengers of the boat were still trying to counter their movement, but the current was already pushing them over the edge. Arya thrust the paddle deep into the mass of the riverbed and propped up against it and stopped the boat right before it moved over the edge with Eragon already hanging in the air.

"Stay calm, Eragon. Help will be there in a minute," commanded Arya while looking at the pair from above through Fírnen's greenish vision. She came back to her mind and what she saw totally shocked her. Eragon was standing in the front of the boat and he was bending over the edge while hardly managing to balance himself.

"Seems cool enough," he announced and then yelled, "Geronimo!" and with that he launched himself into the abyss.

"Eragon, no!" yelled Arya, but it was too late. She released her hold on the paddle and jumped from her sitting position after him, not waiting for the boat to fall first.

Arya neared the water surface headfirst fast.

"_Letta_," she shouted to slow her dive and then split the surface gracefully in a slow motion. She opened her eyes and saw that the pond under the waterfall was surprisingly deep. She turned around and saw Eragon's swimming up safely. Arya thought about it for a second and then she started making her way to him with an intention to teach him a lesson. She could not allow him to perform such stupidities.

"You are such an idiot," Arya yelled at him after her head came to surface, "How can you act so recklessly and carelessly while knowing that everything depends on you?" His face was blank, as if he did not understand her. She needed to punch him, hard, but when she was just few feet from him another voice entered their conversation.

_Behold the Queen of the skies, two-legs, _roared Saphira in their minds and before Arya could look up, the dragoness plummeted herself into the water and in the next second filled the space between Arya and Eragon, effectively separating Arya from beating Eragon badly.

_She is so playful and temperature, _sighed Fírnen who was flying above them.

_Concentrate, Fírnen. Your drooling over her is the last thing we need right now, _replied Arya sharply while she was trying to get around Saphira, _This boy needs to understand what is at stake._

_Deal with him by yourself then, _snapped Fírnen back and shut down their connection. Arya sighed. She would have to apologize to her partner soon. She swam behind Eragon who was unsuccessfully trying to climb at Saphira's wet back. The two seemed totally oblivious to the rest of the world.

Arya grasped Eragon by the collar of his tunic and proceeded to drag him out of the water. Saphira growled in displeasure, but Arya shot her one angry look and the dragoness let her go.

Eragon tried to get out of her grasp, but he had no chance. She threw him headfirst against the nearest oak. He hit the trunk hard and then slipped down with his back against it.

"Dröttningu?!" Arya turned and saw Blödhgarm standing at the rock fifty feet above her.

"We are alright, Blödhgarm! Carry your boats over here so we can continue!" yelled Arya back.

"Yes, Dröttningu," replied Blödhgarm and disappeared from the edge.

Arya then shifted her gaze at Eragon who was staring at her with a questioning look in his stubbly face.

"What were you thinking up there?" asked Arya easily, but with a deadly tone in her voice.

"I just wanted to have some fun," Eragon replied after a moment, "I have done this before, it seemed quite safe to me."

"How can you be such an immature child?" Arya was now fuming with anger, "Firstly, that… stunt you just performed was simple craziness. Secondly; do you understand how much depends on you?"

Eragon gave her a long look, "No, I don't," he stood up, looking down at her, "How could I understand it, _Princess_?"

Arya stared into his chocolate eyes, unwilling to break the eye contact, but in the core of her heart she knew he was right. How could he? He was torn out of his world and thrown into one absolutely foreign and unknown to him. How could he understand?

_He will come to the understanding with time, _Fírnen came out of his silence without any hint of the previous anger present in his voice, _What he had done may have been reckless, but shouldn't take things like this from him right now. For your reassurance, he can't really top this stunt of his with anything else. Let him go now, my Greenleaf._

Arya blinked and found herself still staring into Eragon's eyes who in turn still stared into hers, as if he wanted to prove that he was right. She straightened herself, her eyes now barely under those of his, to show the authority she still held over him.

"Very well," Arya said, "But if you will attempt such a foolishness again, you will suffer from the consequences. And now tell me: how could you deem this stunt safe?"

Eragon immediately dropped the serious look of his face and laughed.

"Well, Dröttningu, the water and the material it carries falling from the waterfall dig a deep pond under it over time."

Arya tilted her head her to the right, "I didn't know that," she admitted.

"You better remember this for the next time," his grin widened after his obviously prepared remark. Arya wanted to punch him hard, but she decided to postpone the act for a different opportunity.

She turned back towards the pond and saw Blödhgarm and the rest of their group coming out of the trees on the other side of the water carrying their boats. Saphira meanwhile raised herself from the water with the both of the fallen pair delicately between her teeth.

_Here is your floating-tree, _the dragoness said as she walked over to Arya and dropped the boat to her feet.

"Thank you, Bjartskular," replied Arya and turned to their guards who meanwhile boarded their boats again, "We will continue."

* * *

**ERAGON**

"Shur'tugal?" Eragon looked up from his place by the burning campfire and saw the furred figure of Blödhgarm. They exchanged the greetings and the furred elf continued.

"Would you please follow me? Arya Dröttningu requests your presence," the elf announced. Eragon nodded and got up to follow him.

It has been day and half since the incident at the waterfall and they had already glided out of Du Weldenvarden and they were now camping in the curve of the river which was turning to the south.

The lands around him now were plane and rich. What surprised him the most was the fact that not all the elves actually retreated to Du Weldenvarden after Galbatorix's ascension. In this remote, godforsaken piece of land north of the lake Eldor existed few elven villages and in those settlements lived elves that enjoyed the outside world more than the life in the forest. They mostly cared about the nature of the plains and even bred few herds of cows. That finally answered Eragon's unspoken questions about where the elves were getting the milk for their delicious cheeses. According to Arya the elven steeds were also bred there.

_What do you think she wants? _asked Eragon Saphira who was dining with Fírnen on two cows which were not too happily gifted to them by one of the plain residents.

_Maybe she is expecting you to apologize for your stunt._

_I have nothing to apologize for, _replied Eragon, _And by the way, you supported me in that._

_No, I didn't, _argued Saphira.

_Oh yes, you did, you subversive lizard. You precisely said 'I see that the water is deep enough'._

_Well, maybe I did, _she admitted.

_Haha I got you, _laughed Eragon.

_Enjoy it, Little One. It's not going to happen often, _said Saphira proudly.

_Of course, of course. So any actual idea of what might Arya want? _Eragon came back to his original question.

_Nope_

_You have been quite useful, _said Eragon sarcastically.

_My pleasure, Little One._

Eragon shook his head and hurried to match Blödhgarm's pace. The elven spellcaster led him to a nearby small pool of water where Arya was leaning against the green mass which was Fírnen.

"Arya Dröttningu, I have fetched Eragon Shur'tugal as you asked," announced Blödhgarm.

"Thank you," replied Arya. Blödhgarm turned to leave, but Arya stopped him, "Stay here please, Blödhgarm-vodhr. As the leader of our guard, you shall be present to this."

"Yes, Dröttningu."

"Very well, now we can proceed with this," continued Arya and turned to stand over the pool.

"_Draumr kopa. Waíse eyrll," _she chanted and a small area of the water surface changed its color firstly to black and then to many other colors which slowly formed a detailed picture. It showed a room of which walls were obstructed by high bookcases. perpendicularly to their view stood a massive, walnut desk and two men were standing on the opposite sides.

One had an ebony skin which was clearly visible on his bare head. His black beard covered his chin and his upper lip. He was tall and broad in shoulders. His proud and straight posture was giving away an air of great pride and commanding ability.

The second one looked old. His long hair was white with a few blacks strands visible and same went for his beard. His posture was hunched as if he bore a great weight upon his shoulders. Eragon could however see that if the man stood upright, he would probably match the black man's height and there was something about him that was giving away the fact that he was probably much deadlier than the younger man with whom he was talking.

So that had to be Brom.

Arya coughed to get their attention.

The men looked at them and then at each other. Eragon wondered how they saw them. The men then moved by the table and came to stand directly in front of them. The black man spoke.

"Ambassador Arya, it is a pleasure to see you again," his voice was deep and commanding, confirming Eragon's previous estimations about the man.

"Ajihad, Leader of the Varden," so this was Ajihad Eragon thought as the Arya twisted her hand over her sternum, "I hail you in the name of King Evandar and Queen Islandazí."

Arya then greeted Brom who was seemingly beaming with energy and curiousness.

"Brom informed me about all he knew," Eragon expected Arya to scowl at this, but it seemed that she put on an emotionless mask.

"We did not want the information to leak," she said slowly.

"No one else knows," replied Ajihad, "Although I will need to inform King Hrothgar if we are to proceed with the plans we developed. But first allow to me to congratulate you for becoming a Rider. I could not imagine anyone better suited for that task. And that brings us to our second Rider," his gaze slipped at Eragon.

"I know almost nothing about you, Eragon. But what I know worries me, because it is the strangest I have ever heard about. Brom assured me that the dragon would not choose badly, but you will have to prove yourself to the Varden, boy. But that time is now distant," Ajihad turned back to Arya.

"Arya, we can't bring your company to Farthen Dûr,"

"I feared this," the elf acknowledged.

"We have suspicion that we have been infiltrated. It is probably someone with high rank, because we have lost our contact with few of our best agents in the Empire. Because of that, we decided that we will accommodate you and proceed with Eragon's training in Bregan Hold," announced Ajihad.

"The stronghold of Dûrgrimst Ingeitum?" queried Arya.

"Yes, Ingentium are the most loyal of the dwarven clans and with permission of King Hrothgar we will be allowed to use it with the greatest possible secrecy."

"I like this idea," nodded Arya, "Can they accommodate us?"

"How numerous is your group?" inquired Ajihad.

"Twelve, plus two dragons."

"I will inform the King. We will need permission for the dragons to hunt in the surrounding mountains. Some the clans grew furious about that. I believe that the elves are not so demanding?" Arya shook her head.

"Very well, that will be settled then," continued Ajihad, "I plan for you to travel up the river Az Görteg and then through the Pass of Sarzíol."

Arya appeared to be surprised, "Why not going up the Âz Ragní, stopping at Tarnag and then continuing through Farthen Dûr?" she asked.

"The route I plan for you to use is less noticeable by the unwanted watchers, although the passage over Sarzíol may be taxing. It is of course your choice."

Arya turned to the elder man on Ajihad's side for the first time. "What do you think, Brom-elda?" she asked him.

"I stand with Ajihad in this matter. The longer you remain hidden from the eyes of spies, the longer time will be given to me to train Eragon. The more we manage to accomplish, the better the chances of his and our survival will be," said Brom measuredly and Eragon was surprised by the strength and the vigor in the old Rider's voice.

"Then we will act by your advice," announced Arya and turned to the furred elf at her side, "Blödhgarm, adjust our plans and make preparations for a few days in high mountains."

"Dröttningu," nodded Blödhgarm and left to walk back to their small camp. Arya turned back to the two men.

"I think everything is settled now," spoke Ajihad, "We shall contact you tomorrow with the confirmation of our arrangements."

"One more question," blurted out Arya and received a questioning look from the Leader of the Varden. "May I ask where is Ambassador Fäolin?" she continued.

"Oh, he has been working on some reports of his own. Do you need to speak with him?" replied Ajihad.

"Not necessarily. I am sure he will be able to pay us a visit in Bregan Hold at some point of our stay there," replied Arya.

"Then I think that nothing else needs to be discussed. Contact us again tomorrow so we can confirm everything," continued Ajihad, "Arya, Eragon, Riders, I fare well to you, your dragons and your companions and I hope I will see you soon healthy and unharmed." Both Arya and Eragon nodded to the bald man and Ajihad left Brom standing alone in front of them.

"You two should be very carefull," Brom started with what was going to be another advice, "Arya you have traveled through these lands many times. East of Hadarac is still dangerous and wild land. Now more than ever, the unexpected events are bound to happen at any time. You must be cautious," spoke Brom quickly with an urgency in his voice. "If something happens, you two and your dragons must flee. I suppose your guards had been informed about this."

Arya casted her gaze down, "Their one and only goal is to get us safely to our target... at all costs."

"Don't let your thoughts wear you, Arya. As I know Blödhgarm, he is more than willing to take these risks and the rest of your guard is probably the same." Arya nodded and raised her head. "I will have to go now too," continued Brom, "I think that the blabbering of an old man and his foolish counsels are starting to get on your nerves."

Brom then switched to Ancient Language. "Sé onr sverdar sitja hvass," said Brom mainly to Arya, although his gaze was firmly fixed on Eragon. And then the image of the study vanished. Eragon's gaze remained on the now empty water surface when Arya's rich voice spoke to him. "Come, Eragon. You need a rest. The river is slowing down and tomorrow you will have to work hard." Eragon nodded and followed the elven princess back to their small camp.


	10. Hedarth

******Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Christopher Paolini.**

* * *

**ARYA**

_How many celebrations are we going to suffer through before the end of our journey? _asked Arya Fírnen while she was calmly going through the paddling motion. Fírnen was again flying above them with Saphira. They left Ceris that morning after another involuntary celebration.

_I have seen a nicely looking tavern in your memories of Hedarth,_ answered Fírnen playfully.

_That sounds like an interesting idea. People of Hedarth are surely used to weirder things than two dragons in a tavern, _replied Arya sarcastically.

_The innkeeper would be happy for making a deal._

_And then he would have to spend the money on repairing of the ravaged tavern. And it is not like you would be the one paying for the beverage, _continued Arya, _In fact, it surprises me that you would be willing to pay for something_.

_Teachings of Glaedr-elda showed me that being too proud and boastful is not good. I learned from them a little bit, _answered Fírnen.

_I have to see that "little less proud" lizard yet._

Fírnen grumbled, _I thought you liked celebrations, _he switched their conversation back to the original theme.

_The time to celebrate is behind us now. We have to focus on our tasks. _

_I think that not-pointy-ears enjoys them a lot, _continued Fírnen.

_He better controls himself next time. It is not like our guards are going to say anything to him, but they might start getting annoyed if he continues to get unconscious through the means of alcohol every time he gets near it, _replied Arya roughly.

_Let him be, Arya, _Fírnen surprised her with the use of her name, _He still needs to cope up with everything that happened around him. Especially now when he has left the forest and we are throwing into the war._

Arya flinched, _Just don't let him become addicted to alcohol, _she replied.

_While we are talking about the topic of caring about him, you should be aware of the fact that he is going to fall off the boat soon._

Arya snapped out of her trance and saw Eragon, who was sleeping after the hard night, leaning dangerously to the left side of the boat, threatening to fall over the low edge.

She leaned forward and nudged his left shoulder to wake him up. He startled and almost managed to overturn the masterfully built and balanced elven boat with his movement.

"Are you alright?" asked Arya.

"Nope," grumbled Eragon as he rubbed his eyes, "Too much drinking I guess."

"Then you are really good at guessing," continued Arya sarcastically, "When you are alright, I could use some help here. We want to make it to Hedarth by tomorrow's afternoon."

Eragon growled, grabbed the paddle, which was lying beside him, and started paddling clumsily.

"Any particular reason why we need to reach Hedarth so fast?" asked Eragon.

"We need to replenish our supplies and we also need to buy some warmer clothes. We were not preparing ourselves for cold weather of the high mountains and using magic to warm us would be needlessly taxing," replied Arya.

"I assume we are not simply going to walk into the city with the dragons behind us," muttered Eragon.

"No, we will camp few miles from the city and four of us will go in, disguised. Including you."

"Why me?"

"I want to have my eyes on you for the whole time. Blödhgarm will go with us and I have yet to decide on the last one," explained Arya.

"We are going to be quite conspicuous. Does Galbatorix not have spies in Hedarth?" continued Eragon as his back was slowly straightening from his previous slouched and tired position.

"We are not aware of them. There is really no reason for him to have anyone there."

And it was true. Hedarth had not been in existence for too long. Only after Brom killed Morzan and the raids of the Forsworn on the outdoor dwarven cities were stopped, the dwarves dared to venture out of the mountains. They travelled down the Âz Ragní and built a settlement at the meeting with the river Edda.

Originally only a dwarven trading post and hunting camp, it quite quickly grew into a middle-sized and very specific type of community. Additionally to the dwarven inhabitants, the nomadic tribes from Hadarac and from the East were passing through the town on a regular basis. Also few families, that ran from the Empire and wanted nothing to do with the Varden or with Surda, found their new homes there and they were farming on the fertile ground around the two rivers.

Galbatorix did not care about the town. Although he probably knew about it, he was not venturing out of Urû'baen by himself anymore and the settlement was out of reach for his army alone. Hedarth was not presenting a threat to the Black King.

But those who were now landing on the left bank of Edda were and Arya knew that better than anyone else in their group. They would have to be careful.

She pushed the boat on the hard ground and walked out of the river. She dried her boots with spell while watching the rest of their group landing.

They landed in a part where a small forest surrounding the river, so they were protected from the unwanted eyes. The dragons were already waiting in a small clearing few hundred yards away.

On their short way to the clearing, Arya contemplated over the second spellcaster who would be coming with them to the town. She decided to choose Yaela who was the second oldest member of their guard. Silver-haired and blue-eyed, she was a very skilled spellcaster, especially when it came to manipulating with water.

Arya knew that Yaela and Blödhgarm were once, long time ago, in fact mates. Arya wondered why they left each other and how they were able to act around each other now. Those thoughts brought her back to her and her emotions and thoughts about possibly, sometime in the future, finding someone for herself too.

_YOU ARE HERE! _Fírnen interrupted her loudly and she had to admit that she was thankful for that.

_No need to yell at me, you clamorous lizard._

_You weren't responding, _huffed Fírnen, _Your thoughts were kinda interesting though. I…_

Arya ignored him as she walked over to Yaela to give her her assignment.

"Yaela-vodhrinn, you will be coming with us to the town. Prepare your disguise. We are leaving in thirty minutes," announced Arya.

"Yes, Dröttningu," answered the elf who was dressed in the same fashion as Arya – dark brown tunic, black breeches and knee high boots. She then turned away and started mumbling spells to transform her face to that of a human woman.

Arya turned around and saw the rest of the elves setting up a camp. Blödhgarm was on a side, busy dressing himself in clothes which would cover all of his alterations, because reversing all the spells which he had placed upon himself would take too long and Arya would never even try to ask him to do that. She however needed him to come with her, so this was the only option.

Eragon was opposite to her, leaning against Saphira's side with his eyes closed, probably engaged in a mental talk after being without a contact for a majority of the day.

Arya walked over to him. Before she was going to change her face, she needed to mask Eragon a little too.

"Take this," said Arya when she came to him, handing him a dark green cape with a hood. Eragon eyes opened, little irritated at being interrupted. He took the cape from her hands.

"We don't want anyone to see our faces," she continued as she handed him another thing, "Take this scabbard also. Yours if of elven make and anyone who has ever heard about my race would recognize it."

"Those will also recognize you. I am not sure if the will recognize Blödhgarm though. They might think of him as entirely new specie," said Eragon sarcastically as he was strapping his new scabbard on the belt.

"You might think you're funny, but those are insults and I am sure you would not dare to tell them straight to Blödhgarm," replied Arya harshly, "Take these gloves and make sure your gedwëy ignasia is covered permanently."

He took the brown leather gloves, similar to hers, but larger in their size, and slid them on his hands.

"No need to be so serious," Eragon tried to flash her a smile, but her face remained still as stone.

"Still so human. One would say a stay in Ellesméra would make you understand at least something," Arya watched him intently and she could find a trace of shame in his eyes, "Get ready, we are leaving in twenty minutes."

In the next second, exactly twelve-headed horse herd galloped into the clearing. Arya was about to go greet her friends, but the surprised look on Eragon's face made her chuckle.

"Were you perhaps expecting that we would travel further by foot?" she inquired with a sly smile on her face.

_You seem to be in a good mood, _said Fírnen in the back of her head.

_I finally got him on something._

_You are so competitive and proud… just like me, _whooped the still young dragon.

"Well, I was kinda expecting that," let Eragon himself to be heard while Arya was paying attention to her dragon, "I mean, how did they get there?"

"They were told to do so. Without us as their burdens, it was easy ride for them," Arya turned to one of their guards, the black haired male elf Ulthinarë.

"Ulthinarë-vodhr, please camouflage Rïa and Beol a little. We will take them with us and they look too exceptional for weary travelers."

The elf nodded and moved over to the auburn mare Rïa and a black stallion, Beol. Arya watched him for a moment as he was ruffling mare's mane and then she went to finally work on her disguise.

* * *

**ERAGON**

The small town of Hedarth was lying on the other side of Edda and the only way to get there was to cross the small, but seemingly firm wooden bridge. The group of four people and two horses was in the middle of the crossing when Eragon spotted that another bridge was being built some fifty yards down the stream. It seemed to be built of stone, but it was far from being completed and nobody was working at it right now.

"The wooden bridge was destroyed by floods twice in the last ten years, so the dwarves decided to build a steadier one out of stone," came Arya's voice from behind him.

Eragon turned around to see her walking with her firm step, closing their small group. She had a dark red stripe of cloth wrapped around her head, so only her eyes, nose and few strands of her midnight hair were visible.

Eragon was surprised and confused at first when he saw her with human features in her face, but that surprise was easily overcome when he saw Blödhgarm who, in the face, looked nothing like his half-animal form. Even the last elf, Yaela, now looked more humanly than Eragon could have imagined before. Although their faces were still too fair to being considered human, the few additional pieces of cloth and some skillful work with dirt and mud did the rest of the job.

"Although the work seems to be stopped for some reason," continued Arya as her gaze was fixated on the construction site.

"Where are we going to get the things we need?" asked Eragon as his gaze fell upon the small town.

"There is a market in the town square. I can see from here that there are few caravans in the town right now, so we should be able to get everything we need."

They entered Hedarth by the main road which led them swiftly through the town. Eragon noticed how different some the buildings were from each other. From houses built from thick oak logs to a richer structures made of massive stone blocks.

"How many people live here?" asked Eragon Arya who was now walking beside him.

"Six hundred at most, mostly dwarves, but a lot of humans too. But there could be maybe a thousand of people right now with those caravans," answered Arya.

"I thought it was a small town."

"It grew a lot in the last couple years. They are all lucky that Galbatorix does not care about them right now and that they are too far away from his army. Now be careful, we are entering the square."

As Arya said it, they walked out of the street into a quite large open area which was being lit up by the afternoon sun. Clamorous sounds of voices bargaining over prices, animals and tools banging against each other filled their ears and their vision was filled by market stands and vendors.

"Blödhgarm, Yaela," hissed Arya to the pair in front of them, "Go and buy the food supplies. Buy some meat so you don't look too prominent. Remember that we are travelling from the north to the southern lands. We will buy the clothing."

Blödhgarm just nodded and handed the reins of Rïa to Arya. Then he started following Yaela who was already leading the second horse into the crowd.

"Come, let's do this quickly," said Arya and started making her way through the crowd.

"There are at least three caravans here," she continued with Eragon walking beside her, "One from Hadarac, one from east and one from southeast, if I remember their emblems correctly."

Eragon looked to his right where the building which seemed to be some kind of small temple was standing. In front it was standing a camel and around him were collected three black men. One was shorter than the other two and his skin seemed to be paler, but Eragon could not be sure of it as the man was swiftly covered by people flicking through between them. The last thing Eragon saw was the pair of black eyes swiftly flashing over him and then the man disappeared in the crowd.

"Here, let's try this one," said Arya and headed to one of the stands. Eragon however had an unpleasant feeling that someone was watching him.

After thirty minutes they had all they needed to buy. Many layers of warmer clothes and new, more resilient boots for those members of their party who were travelling lightly. The stuff they bought was topped by several huge, but easily maneuverable coats which the trader claimed to be made out of fur of some huge, furry animals from the north.

The coats certainly looked like that and that also determined their high price. Although Arya had many coins from the royal treasury with her, it still took few moments of suppressing her royal pride before she handed them to the trader whose face was unconcealedly saying that he fleeced them.

They were in the process of pilling the bought stuff on their mare, which was preceded by Arya explaining to a dumbstrucked Eragon that she really could not throw everything up there at once in front of all those people, when Blödhgarm and Yaela again joined them, with their stallion being similarily hung with the bought supplies.

Eragon was throwing up one of the last coats when he saw those black eyes again.

"Arya?" he said as if nothing was happening with his eyes firmly fixated on his work.

"What?" was her immediate response.

"I think someone is watching me… or us."

Without a hint of surprise Arya came closer to him, seemingly trying to help get their things up on the horse.

"Where?" she breathed out a whisper.

"Somewhere behind me," continued Eragon in a low tone, "Dark skin, and black eyes, not too tall. I firstly noticed him when we arrived here and had a weird feeling since we arrived here."

"I see him," Arya fell silent for a moment, "You should have told me sooner. Now… Barzul!" Arya hissed and turned around swiftly.

Eragon followed her and saw the man running away into a side street.

"Yaela, prevent him from contacting anyone. Blödhgarm, head him off. Stay inconspicuous until the last possible moment," commanded Arya quickly, "Eragon follow me, quickly!"

Eragon saw Yaela closing her eyes and starting mumbling incoherently, but in the next moment he found himself jogging beside Arya who was still using just a speed of human. They turned into the same street as the man before, but he was already out of sight. Eragon followed Arya through two weirdly looking shops which led them to another street.

Arya turned left to run back to the square, but Eragon saw something moving on the other side, under the city wall. He looked back at Arya, but she already ran onto the square again. It took Eragon a second to decide what he was going to do and he did not have a good feeling about that.

He sprinted to the wall, turned left and squeezed through the narrow gap between the wall and the nearest house. He walked out to another side street and saw a person running to the house three buildings from his position.

Eragon followed his instincts again and ran into a musty smelling tavern. Everyone there was paying an utmost attention to their drinks, so he ran through the building and emerged in a small backyard and it seemed that there was no other way out of the place. There he saw the black cloaked figure trying to climb over the at least fourteen feet tall city wall.

Eragon sprinted over the courtyard and jumped as high as he could to catch the person who was already almost over the top of the wall. He hung on the person's right leg for a moment before the man's arms gave up and both fell on the soft grass of the backyard.

Eragon stumbled back onto his feet and was in a process of drawing his sword when a sharp pain erupted in his head. He fell to the ground again, clutching his head with both hands. It felt similar to when Arya was reading his memories, but this time it felt like it they were being cut out of his head by knife. Meanwhile the person who was now standing over spoke in a sly voice.

"So I was right about you, you filth. You did not want to be seen, but old Harűk is not going to let you fool him. No, no, no… The King will know about you and he will reward me. Now show who you are."

Eragon's pained mind was now thrown into a world of panic. Why did he have to separate himself from Arya? As if he knew what he has been doing. Now this adventure was going to end before it even began. Somewhere in the back of his head he felt panic from a different source, but he could not tell what it was. The man above him was meanwhile blabbering like a mad man.

"Yes, you will show me what you are. This is… interesting. Very, very interesting. Yes."

Eragon's memories were flashing in front of his eyes as the man was probing through them. His early life in a different world, much of it was still blurred and covered in shadows. The man seemed slightly confused by this, but he was continuing without hesitation.

Eragon wanted to do something, somehow shield his mind from the man, but he did not know how to do it. Arya had told him something about mind barriers, but he hardly grasped even the concept of it.

His memories shifted to those of his arrival to Ellesméra. The man started getting hysterical with every new memory and Eragon knew why. Now the infiltrator would know everything about him, about Saphira, about the elves. A wide, half-mad grin was formed by the man's mouth.

"This…,"

Something incredibly fast came flying to the scene from the left side. Blödhgarm viciously grasped the man's throat and threw him against the city wall so hard that a big crack appeared in it as the man came down to the ground.

Eragon tried to get up from the ground as a hand touched his shoulder. He turned around to see Arya watching him with concern. He nodded to her as a sign of being all right. She did not waste any time and immediately moved to the man who was now being held high against the wall by Blödhgarm.

"Who are you and who sent you?" she asked harshly.

The man just laughed, "You think I am going to tell you? Just like that? No, no. King's men are better than. You are not getting anything out of me. Enjoy your day," said the man fiercely. He then yelled a word in Ancient Language and his body collapsed.

"Barzul," cursed Arya.

She checked the body, "He is dead. He isn't breathing, nor do I feel his life aura."

The three turned around as sounds of clashing steel reached their eyes. The city guard finally noticed their little escapade.

"Blödhgarm, get him out of here," commanded Arya.

Blödhgarm from his place jumped straight on the top of the wall and Arya proceeded to throw him the body up there like a ragdoll. The elf disappeared from the wall in the same moment as a group of dwarven guards with short spears emerged from the tavern with the innkeeper in the front.

"Hey, you two, what are you doing here?" he belted out while pointing at Arya and Eragon.

"Um, we…," started Arya.

"It seems that you have a hole in the wall here, my friend," interrupted Eragon as he showed the crack caused by Blödhgarm, "The static of the structure has probably been disrupted. The erosion will surely make it even worse in the future."

Dumbfound looks appeared on the innkeeper's, guards' and even on Arya's faces.

"Well, that is not a big deal," stuttered out the dwarf.

"It is not. But it might become if King Hrothgar's inspection discovers it," continued Eragon. He really enjoyed those looks on their faces, although he feared that Arya might snap out of her state soon and punch him for showboating.

"Inspection?" asked the dwarf in disbelief.

"Yes, Inspection for the safety of dwarven population. I heard some rumors about it, so it might not be even true. But I advise you to repair this as soon as possible," finished Eragon.

"Of course, of course, I will contact the town council immediately," spewed out the dwarf rapidly, "Now everybody get out of here, we have a work to do and I don't need any more problems."

He hurriedly packed all of them out of the backyard, to which Eragon and Arya happily obliged, and soon the two were walking with Yaela and their two horses towards the western town gate.

"Can you tell me what were you talking about?" asked suddenly Arya who was leading one of the horses behind him.

"We needed to get out, didn't we?" answered Eragon, quite satisfied with himself.

"We could have done it in a less conspicuous way."

"That wasn't conspicuous at all. Just few eloquent words. Besides," Eragon turned around to walk backwards for a moment to enjoy the incoming look on the elf's face, "You did not seem to have a better idea."

Arya's face remained emotionless, but Eragon was sure that her inner pride was boiling. Her voice also remained calm and silent.

"You may be right," she admitted, "We will discuss that later along with the rest of today's events. You should however know that you acted harshly again and that neither me, neither our dragons are very pleased with you. Now we need to get out of this place."

Eragon sighed. He knew that Saphira was going to be pretty angry with him and that it was probably she whom he felt during the man's attack. At least their connection was growing stronger, because their camp was stationed several miles from the city. But now he would have to withstand his dragon's fury.


	11. Up the River

**Well, I know I promised that chapter would up yesterday, but the cell-phone internet connection I am currently hanging onto was cut off by a big-ass storm (yeah, lame excuse). So here it is. It is fillerish, not too long and full of semi-fluff. So not much in the end and not a top quality in my opinion. I was detached from the story for too long, so some things might be little off. Hopefully the next chapter will be up before Half-life 3 and I will be in a better rhythm.  
**

**Disclaimer: All of this belongs to Christopher Paolini.**

* * *

**ARYA**

_Fírnen?_

_Yes? _answered the dragon immediately.

_Did you manage to keep Saphira down? _asked Arya.

_Of course. She is still a hatchling, _laughed Fírnen.

_Did you manage to keep Saphira down without breaking her bones and tearing her wings which would require all of our combined powers to heal and we would not be able to move for the rest of the day? _corrected Arya her question.

_Yes… I guess, _answered Fírnen after a minute, seemingly confused by the length of her question.

_Good, we will be there in few moments. Alert the guards of our incoming presence. I had enough of fighting for today, _grumbled Arya.

Blödhgarm came back to them few minutes ago, reporting that the body of the spy was now buried under a random tree, never to be seen again, and he was now leading their small group as they marched in the direction of their camp with Yaela walking with the horses behind him. Arya looked behind her for a second and noticed Eragon dragging his feet and looking visibly tired.

_Hopefully she is very angry, _continued Arya in her conversation with Fírnen, _They ought to have a moment like this anyway._

_Oh, she is very angry. I like her temperament. The two-legs is due for a beating, _chuckled her dragon.

_We should probably restrain her somehow. A dead Rider is useless to our cause._

_She won't kill him. She will just sit on him for the night and then embarrass him by carrying him in her claws for the rest of the journey like a two-legs-baby, _hinted Fírnen.

_That would surely be an amusing sight, _chuckled Arya for the first time, the stressing events of the day finally getting pushed to the back of her mind, _I think I have an idea how to embarrass him even more._

_You are cruel, Greenleaf, _replied Fírnen, now laughing loudly, _I see that idea in your mind now. The Mad King would look like a child besides your cruelty._

That was enough for Arya to snap out of her good mood, _Don't do this Fírnen, _she said harshly, _Don't ever compare me to that, that… I won't stand even if you mean fun._

_I am sorry, Arya. Even with the memories of my race I have and the bond I share with you, I sometimes… forget myself. As if I don't entirely understand what we are fighting against. Neither one of our teachers really told us any details nor did your father. Who is Galbatorix? How does he look? Why he did what he did? Why is he so strong? Questions without answers. They keep us in a dark._

_He got mad with a loss of his dragon, Fírnen. Then he threw his lot in with a Shade and exterminated your race. That's all we need to know, _answered Arya resolutely.

_If you think so, but… hey, here you come, _Arya's could feel Fírnen's mood going back to its normal happy and cheerful mood when she stepped into the clearing.

She heard a roar and in the next moment a big, blue thing passed by her and knocked Eragon off his tired legs. As Saphira busied herself with growling into her Rider's face, Arya swiftly looked around and with her keen vision almost immediately found what she needed. Taking few quick steps to her right, she bended and grabbed a clean piece of slate. She turned around and took in the sight before her – Eragon lying on the ground with Saphira sitting on his belly, trying to not crush him with her weight, and her head directly in Eragon's face growling loudly. Arya spoke the words and the picture immediately copied itself on now coloured piece of slate.

_You are cruel, _chuckled Fírnen again, _What are you going to do with that fairth now? His face is already red as the red-small-vegetable._

_I will keep it and use it when it will be needed to knock down his pride. An arrogance of youth is bound to invade his mindset sooner or later._

_If you think so… this pose also looks like worth of immortalizing, _suggested Fírnen and Arya created another fairth on a different piece of slate, this time with Saphira holding Eragon two feet above the ground with the claws of her front legs.

_Perfect, _commented Arya her work, _This should keep him in check if the opportunity ever arises._

_You really hope it does, doesn't you? _asked Fírnen.

_Of course. Look at it, it looks adorable, _said Arya and wondered if she ever used a word 'adorable' before.

_Who are you and when did you steal my Rider? _asked Fírnen, half deadly serious, half grumbling with laughter, _I don't know why you act around the not-pointy-ears like this._

_Like what? _questioned Arya curiously.

_Freely, you are having fun, you use words like 'adorable', _listed Fírnen.

_That's almost normal. I am just excited about him. Just as you are or father or Oromis-ebrithil. Men from different worlds don't appear out of nowhere every day, _explained Arya, strongly believing in what she way saying.

_That's a solid explanation and you are in fact right, _replied Fírnen.

_Of course I am, _Arya glanced back at the second pair that now was seemingly deep in a conversation, _Do you think they are done with their reconciliation?_

_They are still talking._

_They can talk later. Now we need to talk about what happened, _announced Arya and strode briskly to the center of the clearing, gathering everyone's attention.

"Galbatorix had a spy in Hedarth," she started, watching all the heads turning in her direction, "By a stroke of luck, he stumbled upon us and almost managed to send away the information. He did not know about us in advance, so it is possible that the King still remains oblivious to us," she sighed, "However we can't remain as careless as we have been so far. The man could've had another contact in Hedarth and that one would inevitably sense that something is amiss. We will leave immediately. The dragons will fly ahead to take advantage of the mist and clouds. We will have two scouts ahead of us and one behind us, just for safety. Blödhgarm, you will be the one behind us for the rest of this day. The next few hours will be crucial for us to stay undetected by anyone who may still remain in the town. The rest of you shall divide the scouting positions ahead of us between yourselves. Now we ride as hard as we can until the midnight."

Without another word, she strode off to her horse, not giving a chance to anyone to argue or complain about the arrangements.

**ERAGON**

They rode hard for the rest of the day by the river whose name Eragon could not remember. No new problems arose, but by the time the ground around them was covered in darkness and the finally settled for a camp, Eragon's thighs were so sore he wished he did not have legs. The fact that he, unlike his elven companions or their horses, could not have seen anything for the last few hours of the furious gallop did not help. And Saphira's grumbling that started again in the moment they caught up with the two dragons did not help either.

Oh, she would not embarrass him in front of his companions again. That was already done and even though that was not her main concern when she finally saw stumbling into the clearing of their previous camp, she still seemed pleased with herself and did not feel the need to continue dragging him around like a baby.

But she was still furious as dragon can be without ripping his Rider apart.

_How could you be so irresponsible…_

_Why didn't you listen to Arya…_

_She at least knows what she is doing and understands what is happening around us. You are like a lost wolf-pup…_

And so on and on her deep voice went, until Eragon snapped.

_Leave me be, Saphira, _he said harshly and immediately regretted it. Even Saphira was taken aback by his tone.

_Little One? _she asked incredulously.

_I am tired of it, Saphira. Nothing happened to me, right? If I didn't went after that guy, he would have send a message to the king. So in the end, I did the right thing and your scolding is unnecessary, _replied Eragon exactly how he felt about the situation. He did the right thing.

_But he could've killed you, Little One. And he did not know who you are, _argued Saphira.

_But he knew something was amiss and he could've tracked us later, _said Eragon and he knew that for once he won the argument.

_Still he could've hurt and I won't simply stand for that, _said Saphira fiercely all of the sudden.

_This seems to be a dangerous world, Saphira. Better get used to hurt and pain, _muttered Eragon darkly.

_No, Little One, I am not planning on getting used to see you hurt. You are the partner-of-my-heart-and-soul and I refuse to see you in pain, _her head suddenly appeared before his own, as he sat alone on a log by a glowing fire, _Don't put yourself in harm's way Little One. At least until you know how to defend yourself._

He stared into her deep, sapphire eyes and that eye contact was all they needed to put this conflict aside.

_I won't Saphira, I promise you, _said Eragon in the end and he meant it. It was not like he sought danger and wanted to put himself in its way. He simply acted on instinct.

Saphira stared into his soul for a while longer and then her head disappeared behind him again and Eragon looked back, he saw her already closing her eyes, lying beside Fírnen on her resting place.

A soft thud and an unmistakable scent of crushed pine needles, which he now learned to associate with her, alerted him of presence of Arya beside him. He turned back towards the fire and found her sitting on his log with her knees pressed against her chest and her chin resting on them. The ebony hair was falling freely beside her face and down her back, free of its daily prison in headband. He preferred it this way, but why should he care about that or prefer something about her?

"We have made it twelve leagues south of Hedarth. Good distance, considering that we are traveling off the roads," she started.

"Like I know what a league is," grumbled Eragon, too sore to have a conversation, even with Arya.

"What do you mean?" asked Arya, her eyes wide with surprise, "You did not measure distances in your world?"

Eragon had to fight a chuckle on her curious question. Here he was sitting by a fire with a century old woman that looked like something from a fairy tale and her eyes were like those of a small puppy, discussing distances like it was the most important thing in the world.

"Of course we did. But the league has been outdated for six centuries and the actual length actually varied a lot, depending on in which part of the world you were standing in," explained Eragon the little what he know about the matter, "Do you have any other units of measure?"

Arya thought about that for a moment, "Some members of our race focus their studies on those things. They don't use magic. They try to measure things, weigh them. They watch the stars and observe the world around us. They try to understand the world in a different way than magic does. Although the Ancient Language can give you the complete understanding of the thing you focus on, it is still very different.

She took a small silver clasp that was holding her cloak and looked on it for a moment.

"_Arget!" _she commanded and a shimmering replica of the clasp projected itself on her outstretched left hand.

"See," Arya said as she concentrated on holding the spell intently, "This means I have the complete understanding of that silver clasp. I can create its duplicate. But still I don't know how much it weights or how long the thing is," she closed her left hand and the replica disappeared, "Magic and… science, if you call it that, are two very different concepts and I am not sure how I like the second one. Even though magic can cause evil, it still seems somehow… limited. What I've heard from few of our people that interest themselves in science, I am not sure there are limits to that."

Eragon stayed silent. Even though his memories were sealed shut for the most part, he could still imagine what atrocities science allowed people to commit. In his opinion, the bad outweighed the good. And even if he had not seen the bad side of the magic yet, as it was bound to exist, he still liked the good side of magic better than good side of science.

"However to your original question," continued Arya, "We elves have several other distance measures, but none of those would probably give you a better picture, for there are fairly new and even I don't have a full understanding of them. I decided to use a league in this conversation for it is a commonly used by the members of your race. Elven league is probably longer than the human one since we are more physically capable so in the hour that is taken in the measurement, we can cover a longer distance."

Eragon thought about it for a second, "Seems fair enough," he nodded, "I will just call it forty miles for myself."

"What is a mile?" she inquired.

Eragon smirked, "Too complicated to explain."

Arya watch him as if he was serious for a moment, "Well, keep it to yourself," she said, slight anger obvious in her voice for not getting her answer, "Now go to sleep, we shall set on in early morning and you look as if you can hardly take a step."

"I am going to sleep, when I want to, Princess," announced Eragon. She was ordering him in everything else, but at least this would left for him to decide, "I am currently enjoying starring at this fire."

"Enjoy what you want. But does not cry tomorrow, while wishing that your hurting butt was not yours," she countered and then her cheeks actually reddened slightly at the word she used.

Eragon wanted to remark something over her being too focused on his ass, but decided that it totally was not suited for a conversation with a royalty, even if he could consider Arya a friend which still he sometimes doubted. So he just waved her off and focused his gaze on the

He should have definitely listened to Arya and should have gone to rest earlier. Now, as they sped south along the river freely flowing in the opposite direction, his ass was in a state of a permanent cramp and every bounce of cantering Quëstnir sent another wave of pain straight into his core. The horse, and all the other horses for that matter, seemed to be tireless so any hopes Eragon might have held for getting a little rest vanished long time ago.

Arya's brutal tempo was starting to take its toll on him and Saphira's constant laughing really did not help him.

_Do you see the mountains Little One? _she asked, this time without laughing at his pain.

Eragon lifted his head, wincing from a pain that shot up from his neck and set his gaze on the faraway outline of the huge mountain range.

_I think so. So that means we are nearing them?_

_Not really. They are just really big and massive, _chuckled Saphira, _You still have to endure few more days of hard riding before we reach the factual valley._

_You will soon be a dragon of a dead Rider then, _muttered Eragon tiredly.

_Don't joke about it, Little One. As I stated yesterday, I will not stand you being in pain, _she reminded him.

_Then do something about this, or I will just drop on the ground and die in the wilderness, _replied Eragon.

_I would carry you if I could, Little One._

_I know, Saphira. But you can't, _he paused, _Couldn't you just tell Fírnen to tell Arya to lower the tempo? In my opinion, if anyone from Hedarth tried to pursue us, we would have known by now._

_Let me try, _said Saphira and broke off for a minute before he heard her voice again, _Arya sends a word that you should stop whining and start acting like a man you are, _announced Saphira with deep laughter.

_That wretched woman, _cursed Eragon, _She will be my death, honestly. Then she can fight the King alone. It is probably what she wants anyway._

_Can you blame her? _asked Saphira.

_I don't know. It seems to me that there are people with better cases than her – Oromis-elda, that Varden man, Brom. Even King Evandar does not seem to be as adamant as her on killing Galbatorix in the most gruesome way._

_She lived her whole life in oppression, Little One, _reminded him Saphira, _While those you mentioned knew the free life, she spend it whole fearing that Galbatorix will decide to finish his remaining enemies._

_I guess so, _grumbled Eragon, _But my previous statement stays. If she does not ease the pace, I will pass out of exhaustion and pain at the very least._

_Just few more minutes, Little One. Fírnen spotted a clearing that seems like a good place for a night. Arya decided to stop there, _said Saphira in her attempt to cheer him up which however resulted only in a few curse words going back in her direction.

Few minutes later, Eragon basically collapsed from the horse back straight onto the grassy ground and it failed upon the elven princess to get the already sleeping Rider into his bedroll.

"Those mountains are really something," commented Eragon loudly as they finally rode into the valley and he took a long look upon the sight before and around him. Their tempo was now much slower than during their furious dash towards the mountain range, so he could finally appreciate the marvels of the nature that Alagaësia offered.

Even though the valley of the river was wide and green with forests and meadows, it still seemed small while compared to the silent grey giants that framed it on the sides. Eragon felt small, those mountains surely had to be higher than the highest of his original world – what was their name… Himl-something.

Eragon sighed. He still hardly ever remembered things from the world he lived in for all those years. Even simple names of places were evading him and those holes in his memory were causing him to be grumpy and sad. His memory was a one big mess full of black holes, empty places and wrong turns and it did not seem to get better with time. Originally he hoped that at least the basic memories, those few goods memories of his life he had lived before, would find its way back, but it seemed that it was not going to happen in his case.

As the mountains and their white tops continued to stare down at the slowly moving group, Eragon could not help but feel as if he was being watched by someone… something.

Eragon nudged Quëstnir to ride up beside Arya who was currently in a heated discussion with Yaela.

"What does live in those mountains?" he interrupted Arya's rant carelessly.

She snapped her head and turned around to see him. Her emerald eyes shone like two green suns as they bore through his skull.

"Lots of things," she answered vaguely. "Why?"

"I feel like we are being watched," said Eragon, "Something in the mountains puts me off."

"Good for you," commented Arya, "Some caution finally found its way into your mindset after the Hedarth fiasco."

Eragon puffed as he heard even Yaela chuckle at Arya's other side.

_Those damned elfish women, _he muttered to Saphira, _I thought they were supposed to be sophisticated beings on higher plane of existence and here they were, picking up on me like girls in a school._

_Where? What is a school? _asked Saphira.

_You should just agree with me, _whined Eragon, _Don't ask stupid questions!_

_I don't ask stupid questions!_

_Well, you do._

_Are you alright, Little One? You seem little puzzled and confused and I can feel the pain in your head, _trailed off Saphira.

_Useless lizard, _thought Eragon, but decided to keep it away from the dragoness. He was not in a mood for another argument.

"Anyway, you hardly answered my first question," he went back to his "conversation" with Arya.

The elf woman looked at him with amusement plastered over her otherwise passive face.

"You might want to look out for _Urzhadn _or_ Beorya _as we call them in the Ancient Language," started Arya, "Cave bears big as hills. Even Fírnen would have problems with one of them and Saphira would probably get eaten," smirked Arya. Saphira's growl from high above was however clearly audible.

"That sounds positive. Anything more I should know about the Suicide Mountains?" asked Eragon sarcastically.

"Sure," continued Arya, "There are _Nagras_, giant boars, not so much smaller than the Beorya."

"So it gets better," observed Eragon.

"_Shrrg_, giant wolves," continued Arya, paying no mind to his interruption, "With teeth as long as your hand from thumb to the wrist."

"And don't forget about _Fanghur_, Dröttningu," blended Yaela into the conversation for the first time, "The 'dragons' of the Beor Mountains."

"I wanted to keep them for the last, to scare our Rider here a little more," said Arya amusedly, "They are large flying serpents, ancient relatives of the dragon race. They don't breathe fire, but their mental attacks can paralyze an unprepared victim and make it an easy catch."

"Mental attacks?" inquired Eragon.

"Yes," nodded the princess, "Like the one you suffered in Hedarth."

_So that might be why my head hurts so, _thought Eragon. The loud screech that reached their ears from somewhere above them in the next second confirmed, that it was indeed Fanghur that were watching them.


End file.
